Ctrl- or shift-click to select multiple items
Ctrl- or shift-click to select multiple items
Community eligibility is a federal option that enables high-needs schools to offer breakfast and lunch at no charge to all students. In order to qualify, schools must meet a certain threshold of poverty as measured by their identified student percentage (ISP).
The Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) obtained information on schools that have adopted community eligibility during the 2021–2022 school year from state agencies that administer the federal child nutrition programs. Under federal law, states are required to publish, by May 1 of each year, a list of schools and districts with ISPs of at least 40 percent and those with ISPs between 30 and just under 40 percent (i.e., near-eligible schools and districts). For this school year, the deadline to report eligible and near-eligible schools was June 30th, 2021.
FRAC compared these state-published lists to the lists from state agencies, and compiled a comprehensive list of eligible and participating schools and districts for the 2021–2022 school year. The database currently includes data for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Each entry, when available, contains the following information for a given school: state, school district, school name, ISP, student enrollment, and current participation status.
Visit FRAC's Community Eligibility webpage for more information about this provision.
(/)
State | School District (Local Educational Agency or LEA) | School | Identified Student Percentage (ISP) | Participation in CEP | Student Enrollment (Where Available) |
|---|
The Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) obtained information on schools that have adopted community eligibility during the 2021–2022 school year from state agencies that administer the federal school nutrition programs. Under federal law, states are required to publish, by May 1 of each year, a list of schools and districts with identified student percentages (ISPs) of at least 40 percent and those with ISPs between 30 and just under 40 percent (i.e., near-eligible schools and districts). For this school year, the deadline to report eligible and near-eligible schools was June 30th, 2021.
These lists were reviewed, with missing or inconsistent data identified. In these situations, the state notes below provide an explanation of remaining data issues that are displayed in the database. FRAC compared the state-published lists to the lists from state agencies, and then compiled an exhaustive list of eligible and participating schools and districts for the 2021–2022 school year. This year, FRAC gave states the option to provide a list with the eligible and participating schools and used that list for the database if it was provided.
This database includes data for all schools that are currently participating or were approved to participate in community eligibility, as well as schools that are eligible or near-eligible to participate during the 2021–2022 school year. For the 2021–2022 school year, many schools have chosen to operate their nutrition programs under the summer nutrition waivers provided by USDA, and as such, FRAC has reported all schools approved to participate in CEP for this school year, regardless of whether or not they are currently operating the provision.
Any district, group of schools in a district, or school with 40 percent or more identified students can choose to participate. Identified students include children directly certified for free school meals through data-matching because their households receive assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), or the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR). Some states participate in the Medicaid direct certification demonstration, which allows them to directly certify for free school meals children who are enrolled in Medicaid and belong to a family whose income, as defined by Medicaid, is below 133 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. Identified students are also children who are certified for free meals without an application because they are homeless, migrant, enrolled in Head Start, or in foster care.
The schools are color-coded by ISP according to the following legend:
| ISP 30%-39% |
| ISP 40%-49% |
| ISP 50%-59% |
| ISP 60% and higher |
| ISP Unavailable |
The database currently includes data for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
States were given the option to provide a list of schools eligible but not participating in CEP in addition to the list of schools participating in CEP. The following states chose this option: Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia, Wyoming.
Some states did not provide student enrollment information for certain schools: 17 schools in Alabama, three schools in Alaska, one school in Colorado, one school in Idaho, two schools in Kentucky, four schools in Louisiana, 75 schools in Maine, one school in Maryland, one school in Montana, one school in North Carolina, two schools in Oregon, three schools in Tennessee.
Some states did not provide the identified student percentage (ISP) used by adopting community eligibility schools to calculate federal reimbursements for meals served, often referred to as the "claiming ISP" or "grouped ISP." For these schools, the ISPs are shown as "N/A" in the database: 75 schools in Maine, 17 schools in Texas.
Some states reported schools' free claiming percentages (ISP multiplied by 1.6) as 100 percent, so it is impossible to know the exact grouped ISP. It can be determined that the school is participating in community eligibility with an ISP of 62.5 percent or above. In these cases, 62.5 percent was used in the database: 1,628 schools in California, 218 schools in Connecticut, 20 schools in Iowa, 383 schools in Kentucky, 229 schools in Missouri, 10 schools in Nebraska, 444 schools in North Carolina, 403 schools in Ohio, 709 schools in Pennsylvania.