Paid Lunch Equity

1. Paid Lunch Equity Distance Learning March 6, 2014

2. Paid Lunch Equity – What? • Paid Lunch Equity (PLE) is required based on Section 205 of the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHKA) • Requires SFAs to ensure sufficient funds are provided to the non-profit school food service account for lunches served to students not eligible for free or reduced price meal benefits (ie: paid students)

3. Paid Lunch Equity • This means that the income SFAs receive from student paid lunches should be, at a minimum the difference between the free reimbursement and the paid reimbursement. • 2013-14 school year: • Free lunch reimbursement $2.93 • Paid lunch reimbursement .28 • Difference $2.65 • The income for student lunch meals should be at least $2.65 per meal for the 2013-14 school year

4. Paid Lunch Equity • Paid lunch prices in Arkansas for 2012-13 school year varied between $1.00 and $3.50 with an overall paid lunch price average of $1.95 • SFAs can only be required to raise the paid lunch revenue by a maximum of $.10 per school year; therefore SFAs that have a lower paid lunch revenue will take longer to get to the required paid lunch equity • SFAs may increase prices higher than the minimum $.10 per school year (will get credit toward future year PLE requirement)

5. Student paid meal income example • Free student reimbursement: $ 2.93 • Paid student reimbursement: .27 • Paid student lunch price (stavg): 1.95 • Total paid student lunch income: $ 2.22 • Therefore, the free student lunch income is more than the paid student lunch income by $.71

6. Paid Lunch Equity • There are three ways to meet the Paid Lunch Equity requirement, if the SFAs is required to increase paid lunch revenue: • Increase paid lunch prices to students • District contributes ‘non-federal funds’ to the cover the required paid lunch revenue increase • Combination of increase paid lunch prices and non-federal funds contribution

7. Paid Lunch Equity • FIN-14-047 Paid Lunch Equity Memo – must go to ADE website to get the memo and the PLE tool attachment. • www.arkansased.org • Commissioner’s Memo in column on left of home page • Find memo number • PLE Tool is attachment in the memo, save the PLE to your computer!!

8. PLE Tool • The PLE tool is published each year by USDA. ADE CNU publishes the PLE tool in a Commissioner’s Memo. • The completed and signed PLE tool is required to be submitted to ADE CNU as part of the Renewal of Agreement and Policy Statement each school year. • DO NOT send the PLE Tool now!! Send with Renewal of Agreement in May 2014. • The signature page of the PLE tool must be signed by the district Superintendent and Child Nutrition Director.

9. PLE Tool – what is needed • In order to complete the PLE tool for the 2014-15 school year you will need the following information: • Number of paid student lunches served at EACH PRICE category in October 2013 • 2013-14 completed PLE tool – specifically the 2013-14 Report page, Section 1, Box A – this is the UNROUNDED amount of paid lunch revenue required for the 2014-15 school year

10. PLE Tool – what is needed • If the district is considering using non-federal funds to meet the PLE requirement then will also need (if the district will not be using non-federal funds to meet this requirement the non-federal calculator and the split calculator are not required to be completed: • total number of paid lunches served in the 2012-13 school year • the amount (if any) of non-federal funds used for this purpose in the 2013-14 school year (if the district had chosen to not increase prices and to put in non-federal funds for the 2013-14 school year • This amount is NOT loans to the program

11. PLE Tool – how to complete • You will only be allowed to enter information into the salmon or pink colored cells on this PLE Tool Excel spreadsheet. • SY 2013-14 Price Calculator - Enter the number of paid student lunches served at each paid lunch price category during October 2013 • Unrounded Requirement Finder – Enter in Step 1 in the 2013-14 Average Weighted Price Requirement from the 2013-14 PLE Tool, Report, Box A

12. PLE Tool – how to complete • Look at the SY 2014-2015 Report, Box B to see if paid lunch revenue needs to be increased • If yes, then determine how that revenue increase is to be accomplished • Increase paid lunch prices • Contribute non-federal funds • Combination

13. How to determine new prices • If the district determines it will raise paid student lunch prices and would like to make calculations to decide how much to raise the prices at each price point, or only at some schools use the 2014-15 Price Calculator • Enter the number of paid lunches served in October at each lunch price • Change the lunch prices to determine what the new Weighted Paid Lunch Average will be with the anticipated price changes • If not sure about what to change the price to then play around on this page with different price amounts until the weighted average meets the new requirement

14. What are non-federal funds? Financial support from non-Federal sources must be cash for direct support for paid lunches, including but not limited to: • per-lunch reimbursements for paid lunches provided by States, counties, school districts and others (not the federal reimbursement received from the claim form); • funds provided by organizations, such as school-related or community groups to support paid lunches; • any portion of State revenue matching funds that exceeds the minimum requirement established in 7 CFR 210.17 and that is provided for paid lunches; or • any proportion attributable to paid lunches from direct payments made from school district funds to support the lunch service; e.g., a pro-rata share of general funds used to support the lunch service.

15. SY 14-15 Non-Federal Calculator • If need to determine how much in non-federal funds would be needed to not increase paid lunch prices then go to tab SY 14-15 Non-Federal Calculator • Enter the weighted average price from the 2013-14 Price Calculator • Enter the total number of paid lunches served in 2012-13 school year (from district YTD) • Enter the amount of non-federal funds contributed to the non-profit school food service account during school year 2013-14 (if any) • The result will be “annual non-federal source contribution requirement 2014-15” – this is the amount the district would have to contribute in order to not increase paid lunch prices

16. Split Calculator • The Split Calculator is used if the district will do both – contribute non-federal funds and increase paid lunch prices; the tab is SY 14-15 Split Calculator • Enter number of October 2013 paid student lunches by price category • Enter the new price increase amount for 2014-15 SY • Enter the total number of paid student lunches in the 2012-13 school year • Enter the amount of non-federal funds contributed to child nutrition during 2013-14 SY (if any) • You will get an amount needed for non-federal funds contribution for 2014-15 SY

17. SY 2014-2015 Report • Section 1, Box A will have the amount of required weighted paid lunch average required for 2014-15 SY • Box B will have this amount rounded down to the nearest nickel • Section 2 – must click on drop down box and choose correct information (either increasing paid lunch prices, contributing non-federal funds or both).

18. Signature Page • Based on the information on the SY2014-15 Report complete the Signature Page: • Increase in paid lunch revenue required (how) • Increase paid lunch prices • Contribute non-federal funds • Combination of increase paid lunch prices and contributing non-federal funds • No paid lunch revenue increase required • Must be signed by the district superintendent and the district child nutrition director.

19. Revising the Renewal Agreement • If the district raises student paid lunch prices that needs to be reflected on the Schedule A submitted as part of the Renewal Agreement. • Sometimes the new meal price has not been determined or voted on by the school board prior to submitting the Renewal Agreement • In this example submit the Renewal with the PLE signed stating that the district will increase prices, however with the old prices still on the Schedule A • When the new prices are official then send a REVISED Schedule A to your Area Specialist to update the Agreement.

20. Revising the Renewal Agreement • ANYTIME the Renewal Agreement (including the Schedule A) changes those changes MUST BE SUBMITTED to ADE CNU • The Renewal Agreement is our contract with the district that allows the district to have the free and reduced price meal program. All aspects of the Renewal are relevant to that contract and MUST be updated anytime changes are made

21. Questions? Please do not hesitate to ask questions. We would rather answer your questions ahead of time than to try to correct the mistakes later. Most of the questions we are getting right now have to do with completing the PLE tool.