The following Priority Notice was sent to superintendents on Monday, September 12.
School Administrative Units (SAUs) that do not collect school lunch information because they have chosen to implement the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) for the federal school nutrition funds purposes, or for some other reason, are still required to report individual student information for the purpose of State funding (for Economically Disadvantaged students*) through the Essential Programs & Services Funding Act (EPS) and other federal and State individual student information requirements.
In order to ensure that the SAUs still receive accurate State funds (Economically Disadvantaged funds) through the EPS formula, annual Free & Reduced status for each individual student for the October 1 count must still be submitted to the State student information system (Infinite Campus – State Edition) FRAM module.
This reporting is not for nutrition purposes and should not be collected or entered by your nutrition staff. Rather, this information is required for other administrative and funding purposes and should be completed by either a school-level or district-level administrative staff member.
Options in determining whether or not a student has an Economically Disadvantaged Status for State funding for schools:
- Option A: Request information from all the parents/guardians of students to determine the economic status (free and/or reduced lunch eligible) for all students.
- Option B: Use the Department of Health & Human Services Direct Certification Eligibility to identify those students who are automatically given the economically disadvantaged status and then request information from the parents/guardians of the balance of the students to pick up those students that are not direct certification eligible but may still have an Economically Disadvantaged status (free and/or reduced lunch eligible).Sample Form to Request Economic Status Information from Parents/Guardians: http://maine.gov/doe/data/student/FY17EconomicStatusForm_Final.doc
For more information about student reporting visit www.maine.gov/doe/data/student/economonically_disadvantaged or contact Maine DOE’s Travis Wood at travis.wood@maine.gov or 624-6790.
For more information about EPS funding visit www.maine.gov/education/data/eps/epsmenu.htm or contact Maine DOE’s Paula Gravelle at paula.b.gravelle@maine.gov or 624-6792, or Tyler Backus at tyler.backus@maine.gov or 624-6790.
*In order for a student to have Economically Disadvantaged status, they must be eligible for Free Lunch or Free Milk or Reduced Lunch pursuant to State law 20-A MRSA §15672(3).