Finding Text
Federal Program Affected
Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Pass-Through Entity: California Department of Education (CDE)
Program Name: Child Nutrition Cluster
Assistance Listing Number: 10.553, 10.555
Compliance Requirement: N (Special Tests and Provisions – Verification of Free and Reduced-
Price Applications)
Criteria or Specific Requirements
Per Title 7, U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, Subtitle B, Chapter II, Subchapter A, Parts 245.6a. The local education agency must verify the current free and reduced-price eligibility of households selected from a sample of applications that it has approved for free and reduced-price meals, by November 15 of each school year. The verification sample size is based on the total number of approved applications on file October 1.
Condition
The District did not appropriately calculate the number of applications required to be sampled for the verification process by November 15th of the school year. As a result, the District selected fewer applications for verification than was required to meet the three percent requirement.
Questioned Costs
There were no questioned costs associated with the identified condition.
Context
The condition was identified through inquiry with District personnel and through review of available supporting documentation. The District was required to select 50 applications for verification. However, due to the calculation error, only 24 applications were selected for verification.
Effect
The District does not appear to be in compliance with Special Test and Provision requirements for the Child Nutrition Cluster.
Cause
The cause appears to have been triggered by the change to universal meals, coupled with the increase in qualified CEP sites.
Repeat Finding
No.
Recommendation
The District should establish procedures to ensure the verification process is completed timely and the appropriate eligibility changes are made.