Finding Text
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE PASSED THROUGH ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION CHILD NUTRITION CLUSTER - AL NUMBERS 10.553 AND 10.555 PASS-THROUGH NUMBER 7307 AUDIT PERIOD - YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 2024 2024-001 Eligibility Criteria or specific requirement: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines require an entity to perform eligibility determination procedures for all applications to determine eligibility for free or reduced price meals. The entity's determining official must review each approved application and determine the proper status. Condition: During our testing of Child Nutrition free and reduced price meal applications, we noted the following deficiencies:
· One application was not signed by the determining official.
· One application was improperly classified as free rather than paid.
· One application was not available for audit inspection. Cause: District personnel did not properly review and maintain applications to determine eligibility. Effect or potential effect: The District received excess reimbursements for meals served to the applicable students. Questioned costs: The amount of excess reimbursement for meal claims for the respective student could not be readily determined. Context: Examination of 25 free and reduced price meal applications from a population of 281 approved applications. Identification as a repeat finding: No Recommendation: The District should exercise greater care in reviewing the submitted applications for determining eligibility for free and reduced price meals and contact the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, Child Nutrition Unit for resolution of this matter. Views of responsible officials: One application was not properly approved by the verifying official. Resolution #1 As the verifying official, the Food Service Director will check all applications going forward to ensure that the applications have been signed by the verifying official. One application was incorrectly classified as free rather than paid. Resolution #2 Food Service Director will send each building secretaries an email reminding them to make sure all sources of income are entered with the correct dollar amounts and frequency of pay so the eTrition system will calculate correctly to determine eligibility according to the USDA income eligibility guidelines. The determining officials and the verifying official will either attend in person or digitally a refresher class if offered by the Wilbur D Mills Education Cooperative in the summer of 2025. One application was not available for audit inspection. Resolution #3 All applications will be maintained for audit inspection. Going forward the Food Service Director will make sure all members of the household are listed on the application and matches the application in eTrition.