This database holds data for 50 states and the District of Columbia for the 2024–2025 school year.
Search FRAC’s CEP database to determine which schools in your community or state are eligible for CEP and which eligible schools are participating in CEP. Download an Excel version of the data.
Questions & Answers about FRAC’s CEP Database
Q. What type of information can I pull from the database?
A. Each entry in the database contains the following information (when available) for a given school: state, school district, school name, identified student percentage (ISP), student enrollment, and current participation status. For most states, the ISP identified for CEP-participating schools is the ISP used to determine the federal reimbursement for school meals, often called the group or claiming ISP. For non-participating schools, the proxy or individual school ISP is provided.
Q. How do I search for my school or district?
A. Use the filters to find CEP-eligible schools by state, school district, ISP category, or CEP participation status.
Q. How do I choose more than one state or school district?
A. Hold down Ctrl+Shift simultaneously while making your selection.
Q. How was the information in the database gathered?
A. FRAC obtained information on schools that have adopted community eligibility from state education agencies or the state agency that administers the federal school nutrition programs. Between January 2025 and March 2025, FRAC collected these data:
- school name;
- school district name;
- ISP;
- enrollment.
FRAC followed up with state education agencies for data clarifications and, when necessary, to obtain missing data.
Under federal law, states are required to publish, by May 1 of each year, a list of CEP-eligible and near-eligible schools and districts. CEP-eligible schools and school districts are ones with ISPs of at least 25 percent, and near-eligible schools and school districts are those with ISPs between 15 percent and just under 25 percent. For most states, FRAC compared these published eligibility lists to the lists of adopting schools that the state agencies provided FRAC and compiled a universe of eligible and participating schools and districts in the 2024–2025 school year.
FRAC gave the states the option to report both eligible and adopting schools in the CEP participation data collection. This gave states the opportunity to update their eligible schools list to reflect any school closures or consolidations. Twenty-four states — Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming — provided both eligible and adopting schools for this analysis.
Q. How is the database different from previous years?
A. In October 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) expanded CEP eligibility to schools and school districts with an ISP of at least 25 percent and classified near-eligible schools and school districts as those with ISPs between 15 percent and just under 25 percent. These new eligibility thresholds went into effect nationwide at the beginning of the 2024–2025 school year.
Last Update 06/25/2025: Please be aware that state agencies may periodically republish their CEP lists with updated data. The 2024–2025 CEP participation data reflects the point in time when the data was received from the state agency and may differ slightly from other participation data sources.