Finding Text
2023-005 – Department of Agriculture, for the Period July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023, Assistance Listing #10.553, 10.555, 10.559, 10.582; School Nutrition Cluster
Criteria: Under the School Nutrition Cluster, the School Unit collects applications on an annual basis to determine eligibility of students. The School Unit must develop procedures to use the data collected to accurately sort and classify students who are eligible for free or reduced cost meals.
Condition: During the fiscal year, the Maine State Department of Education reviewed the applications and accuracy of student eligibility status for a sample of School Unit students as part of their processes for approving the School Unit’s application for Provision II. During this process, due to a high error rate, the Maine State Department of Education reviewed 100% of the applications and identified an error rate of 18%.
Cause: Clerical errors, which should be minimized through an effectively designed review procedure, caused the error rate noted above.
Effect: The School Unit does not currently have an effective control procedure to eliminate clerical errors. As such, the School Unit is required to recertify the base year for Provision II for FY24.
Recommendation: It is our recommendation that the School Unit review its process for entering information from student applications and implement a secondary review process to ensure accuracy going forward.