Collecting Free/Reduced-Price Data for School Year 2022-2023

Due to the lack of USDA COVID-19 waivers in SY 2023, schools that operate the National School Lunch Program will be required to collect student eligibility to ensure meals are provided at no cost or reduced-cost to students with meal benefits. Free and Reduced-Price eligibility must be collected for NSLP/SBP through the Household Application for Free and Reduced-Price Meals. If the ESEA (Title I) Income Eligibility Forms (alternate income application) was previously used, this form cannot be used for school meals eligibility, nor can the processing of these forms be covered by funds from the non-profit food service account. Determinations made from 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. 

Refer to HNS 03-2021 for information on how to obtain poverty data needed for certain grants/programs using SY 2021-2022 data.