Appendix E. State CN Agency Director Notification Letter

APPENDIX E

State Child Nutrition Agency Director Notification Letter

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OMB Control No.: 0584-0606

Expiration Date: 03/31/2019

<<DATE>>

<<State CN Director Name>>, <<Title>>

<<State Child Nutrition Agency>>

<<State CN Agency Address>>

Dear <<State CN Director Name>>:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), has contracted with Mathematica Policy Research to conduct the Outlying Areas Cost Study Feasibility Assessment. The purpose of the assessment is to determine the extent of information available about the costs of reimbursable meals for the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. Reimbursement rates for school meals sold in the contiguous 48 States and the District of Columbia are assessed periodically using a rigorous cost study methodology applied to a sample of public school food authorities (SFAs) and schools. That cost study methodology has never been applied in outlying areas, including Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). Mathematica and its partners, Insight Policy Research and Agralytica, will assess whether the methodology can help determine the cost of producing reimbursable lunches and breakfasts in these outlying areas. This study is important because an accurate assessment of meal costs in <<Alaska/Hawaii/Guam/Puerto Rico/the USVI>> could be used to adjust per-meal reimbursement rates in your <<State/Territory>>. The study is not an audit.

Mathematica’s team will assess feasibility by conducting telephone interviews with SFA directors, district business managers, school principals, and school nutrition managers in each outlying area, and with State Child Nutrition agency directors in two of the areas, Hawaii and USVI. They will ask about the availability and completeness of the various types of data critical to estimating school meal costs, and will collect and review relevant documentation, such as annual expense and revenue statements, invoices for food purchases, and completed production records to assess the quality of the data.

Soon, someone from <<Mathematica/Insight/Agralytica>> will contact the SFA director(s) of <<SFA Name(s)>> to describe the Outlying Areas Cost Study Feasibility Assessment and schedule an interview with the SFA director and district business manager. [If Hawaii or USVI: Someone will also contact you to schedule an interview with you.] Pending the responses to <<this interview/these interviews>>, <<Mathematica/Insight/Agralytica>> may work with the SFA director(s) to contact and schedule interviews with the principals and school nutrition managers of up to three selected schools in each SFA.

Your participation is mandatory by Section 28 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act.

Please forward the enclosed notification letter to the SFA director(s) of <<SFA Name(s)>> to alert them to the upcoming study. If you have any questions about the Outlying Areas Cost Study Feasibility Assessment, please contact Mathematica’s project director, Mary Kay Fox, at <<email address>>.

Sincerely,

<<FNS RO Regional Special Nutrition Director>>

Enclosure

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0584-0606. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 5 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information.