Finding Text
Federal Program: Child Nutrition Cluster
ALN #: 10.553 and 10.555
Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Pass-through entity: Michigan Department of Education
Pass-through number: 220910, 221960, 231960, 221970, 231970
Criteria:
In order to comply with Michigan Department of Education and United States Department of Agriculture, the District is required to review the lesser of 3% or 3,000 students who receive benefits for free or reduced lunch. If inadequate information is provided, the student must be moved to paid lunch.
Condition:
The two families selected for verification did not respond to the District’s request for verification, and should have been changed in the system to full-pay as required. The change was not processed through the system as the District intended. Additionally, the letter to one of the families could not be located.
Cause:
This appears to be the result of an oversight by program management, who believed that the system change had been made and the lack of a secondary review of the free and reduced rosters after the verification process was complete. In addition, this appears to be the result of an oversight by program management in recognizing the importance of retaining proper documentation to support the verification process. The District did not have proper internal controls over this special test and provisions.
Effect:
The District provided free or reduced meals to individuals that did not meet the eligibility requirements of the program.
Questioned Costs:
No costs are required to be questioned as a result of this finding inasmuch as actual instances of noncompliance were under the threshold for reporting.
Recommendation:
We recommend that the District put in place controls to ensure all steps of verification are completed by program management, including a secondary review of the free and reduced rosters after the verification process has been completed.
District’s Response:
The District concurs with the facts of this finding and will implement a review process to ensure students selected for the verification process are changed to the proper status of free, reduced, or full-pay. Additionally, the District will retain the proper documentation to support the verification process.