Appendix E. State CN Agency Director Notification Letter

APPENDIX E

STATE CN AGENCY DIRECTOR NOTIFICATION LETTER

This page has been left blank for double-sided copying.

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 Reassessment. The purpose of the reassessment is to determine the extent of information available about the costs of reimbursable meals for the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program and update the information gathered in 2018. 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 Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). Mathematica and its partner, Insight Policy Research, will assess whether the methodology can help determine the cost of producing reimbursable lunches and breakfasts in these Territories. This study is important because an accurate assessment of meal costs could be used to adjust per-meal reimbursement rates in <<Puerto Rico/the USVI>>. The study is not an audit.

Mathematica and Insight will assess feasibility by conducting face-to-face interviews with State Child Nutrition agency directors, SFA directors, district business managers, school principals, and school nutrition managers. 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 Insight will contact you to schedule an interview with you [USVI: along with the Virgin Islands Division of Finance Director of Accounting and Financial Reporting and the Virgin Islands Department of Education Chief of Staff]. Someone from Insight will also contact the SFA directors of <<SFA Names>> to describe the Outlying Areas Cost Study Feasibility Reassessment and schedule interviews with the SFA directors and district business managers, and work with the SFA directors to contact and schedule interviews with the [PR: SFA directors of the seven new SFAs and] principals and school nutrition managers of up to <<three selected schools in each SFA/10 selected schools across Puerto Rico>>. You will be copied on these emails.

State, SFA, and school participation is mandatory by Section 28 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act.

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

Sincerely,

<<FNS RO Regional Special Nutrition Director>>

Enclosure

This page has been left blank for double-sided copying.