For the 2023-2024 school year, in most school districts, families will need to complete an application through their school to determine if their household is eligible for free or reduced-price school meals, as was done last year, and before the pandemic. Things to know:
- The ESEA (Title 1) Income Eligibility Forms (alternate income application) cannot be used to certify a student as free or reduced-price eligible in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Additionally, the NSLP 510 non-profit food service account may not be utilized to cover the cost of distributing or processing ESEA Income Eligibility Forms.
- For Summer 2024 only, USDA has approved the use of PY24 ESEA Title 1 Income Eligibility Forms data to identify and automatically issue eligible students the 2024 Summer EBT (SUN Bucks) one-time $120 food assistance benefit. Students reported to ADE via AzEDs by June 30, 2024, as enrolled and attending a NSLP school for at least one instructional day during School Year 2023-2024 and flagged as Indicator 1 (free) or Indicator 2 (reduced) based on the FY24 ESEA (Title 1) Income Eligibility form are eligible to automatically receive SUN Bucks with no further action needed by the student household to receive the benefit.
- Determinations made from school meal Household Applications for Free and Reduced-Price Meals and Direct Certification can be used for AzEDS reporting.
- For sites/districts participating in a Special Provision Option on an approved cycle, the ESEA (Title I) Income Eligibility Forms may be used to collect free and reduced data for AzEDS reporting only during non-base years or an active CEP cycle and the cost of processing the ESEA (Title I) Income Eligibility Forms must be paid for with funds outside of the non-profit food service account.
- On December 14, 2022, the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) announced the allocation of $6.75 million dollars for schools to offer meals free of charge to students who qualify for reduced-price meal benefits in the Nation School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP), in Arizona through June 30, 2024, or until funding has been exhausted. This funding is provided through ADE's Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) set-aside project funds. This funding will cover the reduced-price meal fee of up to $0.40 for each lunch and up to $0.30 for each breakfast for students who qualify for the reduced-price meal benefit.
