Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is an alternative to collecting, approving, and verifying household eligibility applications for free and reduced price eligible students in high poverty local educational agencies (LEAs) for schools participating in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. For a LEA to be eligible to use CEP for school year 2018-2019, the LEA must have one or more school having an identified student percentage of 40% or greater as of April 1, 2018. The identified student percentage is NOT the same as the total number of students eligible for free and reduced-price meals. Identified student counts ONLY include the following:
- Directly certified students and extension of direct certification benefits to other household members
- Homeless students certified as such by the district liaison
- Migrant youth certified by local officials
- Runaway youth certified by local officials
- Head Start students and
- Foster children, certified based on documentation from the foster child case worker
The LEA and school must agree to offer all enrolled students breakfasts and lunches at no cost (free) and cover any cost above the federal reimbursement received with non-Federal funds.; CEP is approved for four successive school years, with an option annually to return to traditional meal counting and claiming procedures. Reimbursement for schools participating in CEP is based on claiming percentages (Free and Paid only) derived from the percentages of identified students multiplied by a USDA established factor. Please watch the presentation below for more information.
- Community Eligibility Presentation (CEP) with Notes
- CEP Site List SY 17-18
- CEP 2018 Community Eligibility Annual Notification of Schools Keep in mind these eligibility percentages are proxy data pulled from STN reports and matched with Food Stamp/TANF date. LEAs interested in electing CEP must provide actual school-level identified student and enrollment data based on or around April 1.
CEP Application and supporting documents information
The deadline to apply for SY 18-19 is June 30, 2018
- CEP Guidance
- CEP Agreement SY 18-19
- CEP Site Worksheets SY 18-19
- CEP Sample Letter Households SY 18-19
- CEP Estimator Worksheet
- USDA Memo SP 15-2016 - State Agency Procedures to Ensure ISP Accuracy
- USDA Memo SP 19-2016 - CEP Guidance and Updated Q & A (December 2015)
- USDA Memo SP 22-2016 - CEP Planning and Implementation Guidance (Memo)
- USDA Manual SP 22-2016 - CEP Planning Implementation Guidance (Manual)
- USDA Memo SP 26-2016 - CEP Annual Notification and Publication Requirements
- Joint Letter (USDA and USDOE) Regarding Title 1 and CEP
- U.S. Department of Education CEP and Title I Guidance (updated March 2015)
CEP Resources
- CEP Schools - Textbook Application SY 2018-2019 (fillable)
- CEP Schools - Textbook Application SY 2018-2019 (Spanish)
- CEP Schools - Direct Certification Notification Letter for Textbooks
For more information about the Community Eligibility Provision, contact Marcia Yurczyk or Tina Herzog.
