Updated 5/21/07
VERIFICATION
If you have any questions please call David Hartley at 624-6878 or email: david.hartley@maine.gov.
REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2004
The reauthorization legislation makes numerous changes to the verification process in the school meals programs — that is, the rules governing how districts select a sample of children participating in the school breakfast or lunch program and verify their eligibility for free or reduced-price meals. Congress made these changes to increase the accuracy of certifications, focus verification efforts on applications that are more likely to have been certified erroneously, and reduce the likelihood that verification will cause eligible children to lose meal benefits.
Prior to the new legislation, school districts were permitted to choose one of two verification methods: random sample or focused sample. Under the random sample method, school districts select a sample of three percent of all approved applications chosen at random. Under the focused sample method, school districts select one percent of all approved applications but choose them from those applications with reported monthly household income below the eligibility limit for free or reduced-price meals by no more than $100; districts must also select half of one percent of the applications that provide a food stamp, TANF cash assistance, or FDPIR case number as the basis for eligibility.9 This second method is referred to in this paper
as a “one-plus percent focused sample."
Beginning in July 2005, school districts generally will be required to meet four new requirements:
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The verification sample size will have to be three percent of all approved household applications. Children that are directly certified, including those
identified as homeless, runaway, or migrant by an appropriate official, will have been certified based on documentation rather than a household application and
will not be in the pool subject to verification.
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Applications to be verified will have to be selected first from those reporting household income within the monthly income eligibility limit for free or reduced price meals by no more than $100.00
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For each selected application, a school district official other than the one who made the initial eligibility determination will have to conduct a confirmation
review of the initial eligibility determination and correct any mistakes before attempting to verify the application.
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If a household does not respond to the initial verification request, the school district or a contractor will have to follow up with the household to try to obtain verification information.
This was taken from:
Reducing Paperwork and Connecting Low-Income Children With School Meals:
Opportunities under The New Child Nutrition Reauthorization Law
Zoë Neuberger
VERIFICATION REPORT is located in the second section at the bottom of the forms page.
CLARIFICATION OF BOX 11 ON VERIFCATION REPORT
