FRAC: Action Needed on Direct Certification

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Action Needed on Direct Certification
USDA Direct Certification Report Now Online

On October 30, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) delivered to Congress its second annual report Direct Certification in the National School Lunch Program: State Implementation Progress (pdf). All local education agencies (LEAs) are required to directly certify children who participate in the food stamp/Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as eligible for free school meals, and they have the option of also directly certifying children who participate in TANF and the Food Distribution Program for Indian Reservations.

Done right, direct certification can make it considerably easier for more low-income children to receive free school meals, since the family does not have to fill out a separate application but can rely on the information that public agencies already have from the SNAP application. Generally, direct certification is done through computer matching (SNAP/TANF/FDPIR agency to LEA) or by providing letters to SNAP/TANF/FDPIR households that are proof of categorical eligibility and can be given to schools.

The new report examines data from the 2008-2009 school-year, which was the first year that all LEAs were required to directly certify students for SNAP. Key findings include:

Seventy-eight percent of LEAs conducted direct certification in the 2008-2009 school year, up from 67 percent in the 2007-2008 school year.
Twenty-two percent of all LEAs failed to conduct direct certification, despite the federal requirement to do so. These LEAs tend to be small ones, however, comprising four percent of students enrolled in schools that participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP).
Seventy-one percent of eligible children in the U.S. were directly certified in the 2008-2009 school-year, up from 69 percent in 2007-2008.
The rate at which children were directly certified varies widely among states. The top eight states directly certified at least 85 percent of the children receiving SNAP benefits, while the bottom ten states reached less than 60 percent - see chart on states' efforts (pdf) from the report.

The report also identifies best practices and recommends that states provide technical assistance to LEAs that are failing to conduct direct certification.

In a press release issued November 3, USDA Under Secretary Kevin Concannon stated that "Congress recently provided $22 million for Direct Certification Grants to improve performance in States with the lowest rates of directly certified children. This report will help us to share promising lessons from the most successful States. The grants and the report are two important parts of our strategy to make access to school meals as easy as possible for children in need in every school district in the country."

For a complete copy of the report, visit www.fns.usda.gov/ora/menu/Published/CNP/FILES/NSLPDirectCertification2009.pdf.

For more information on making direct certification work better, see FRAC's Facts on Direct Certification (pdf) and Strategies in Tough Economic Times - Improving School Meal Access and Expanding Participation (pdf).

Take Action - send a letter to Congress in support of the Hunger Free Schools Act (S. 1343) to improve direct certification.