Attachment J. Additional Information for A.2 Purpose and Use of Information

Additional Information for A.2 Purpose and Use of Information

The following is additional information for A.2 Purpose and Use of Information from the supporting statement. This information was pulled out of A.2 to reduce the number of pages in the supporting statement.

What information will be collected?

In accordance with the proposed rule, Child Nutrition Programs: Community Eligibility Provision – Increasing Options for Schools (Attachment C), the following information would be collected:

• Documentation to demonstrate compliance with the requirement for State agencies to notify LEAs of their community eligibility status as applicable,

• Documentation that LEAs electing CEP have acceptable identified student percentages,

• Documentation that LEAs electing CEP have submitted updated free and reduced-price policy statements,

• Documentation to demonstrate compliance with the requirement for LEAs to submit to the State agency for publication a list of eligible and potentially eligible schools and their eligibility status; unless otherwise exempted by State agency,

• Documentation to demonstrate that LEAs met requirements to notify households in cases where

  • children are eligible for free meals based on direct certification and that no application is required,

  • meal benefit applications are approved,

  • meal benefit applications are denied,

  • meal benefit applications are selected for verification,

  • failure to confirm eligibility within 10 days results in a reduction or termination of free or reduced-price meal benefits,

• Household meal benefit applications which include income and household size, names of all household members; income received by each household member, identified by source of the income (such as earnings, wages, welfare, pensions, support payments, unemployment compensation, and social security and other cash income); the signature of an adult household member; and the last four digits of the social security number of the adult household member who signs the application or an indication that the adult does not possess a social security number, and

• Households may be required to submit written evidence to verify the income reported on their application.

Is the information collected via a report or public disclosure, or is it a record that must be maintained?

• This proposed rule contains reporting and recordkeeping information requirements. The rule does not impact public disclosure requirements.

Is the collection voluntary, mandatory, or necessary to obtain benefits?

• Households must submit applications in order to receive free or reduced-price meal benefits. State agencies and LEAs are required to report the information in this collection in order to meet mandatory statutory reporting requirements.

From whom will the information be collected and how will the information be used?

• LEAs collect household applications which solicit information that enables LEAS to determine which households are eligible to receive program benefits as well as evidence to support applications for a selection of households.

• State agencies collect CEP eligibility information and free and reduced-price policy statements. These are collected to ensure adequate oversight is possible for requirements related to providing free and reduced-price meals and to meet statutory requirements related to notification of eligibility for CEP.

How will the information be collected (e.g., forms, descriptive reports or plans, electronically, face-to- face, over the phone, over the Internet?

• State agencies and local program operators may collect information in accordance with the proposed reporting and recordkeeping requirements, as preferred. There are no specific requirements for how information must be collected. Generally, State agencies and local program operators use computers and software to report, file, and maintain information. Household meal benefit applications can be made available to households in the preferred format of schools and program administrators. Household applications can be made available on a school’s webpage with instructions for submission or sent directly to households by mail or e-mail. FNS estimates approximately 70% of the information collected in accordance with the proposed information collection requirements would be collected electronically.

• There is no official report, template, or form, nor public disclosure requirements, associated with the information collections included in the proposed rule.

How frequently will the information be collected?

• Generally, the information collected is required to be submitted annually. This is necessary to meet statutory CEP requirements as well as the statutory requirements related to determining household eligibility. The requirement for LEAs to amend their free and reduced-price policy statement is only required when LEAs make changes which impact how they are determining eligibility. LEAs newly electing CEP as a result of the changes proposed in this rule would be required to amend their free and reduced-price policy statement to indicate their participation in CEP but would not be required to make annual updates.

Will the information be shared with any other organization inside or outside USDA or the government?

• With household consent, the information submitted on their application may be shared with other programs, which provide benefits to low income households. All other data submitted by households is not shared and is only maintained by SFAs.

• In order to meet statutory requirements related to notification of eligibility for CEP, CEP eligibility information collected by schools is shared with the public by State agencies on State agency websites.

If this is an ongoing collection, how have the collection requirements changed over time?

• Overall, this rule is expected to decrease the burden for OMB Control Number 0584-0026 7 CFR Part 245 – Determining Eligibility for Free and Reduced-Priced Meals and Free Milk in Schools, although at first these proposals will be shown as an increase to the burden, since FNS is requesting a new information collection. The rule will decrease the burden for State administering agencies, local education agencies (LEAs), and participating households. Once the information requirements from the rule are merged into OMB Control Number 0584-0026, the rule is expected to reduce the number of responses, burden hours, and respondents for the collection.