Direct Certification in the National School Lunch Program: State Implementation Progress School Year 2010-2011. Report to Congress. Nutrition Assistance Program Report Series. Special Nutrition Programs Report Number CN-11-DC

This report responds to the legislative requirement of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (P.L.110-246) to assess the effectiveness of State and local efforts to directly certify children for free school meals under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Direct certification is a process conducted by the States and by local educational agencies (LEAs) to certify certain children for free school meals without the need for household applications. The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 required all LEAs to establish, by school year (SY) 2008-2009, a system of direct certification of children from households that receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. The mandate was phased in over three years. The largest LEAs were required to establish direct certification systems by SY 2006-2007; all were required to directly certify SNAP participants by SY 2008-2009. Eighty-five percent of LEAs that participate in the NSLP directly certified some SNAP participants in SY 2010-2011. These LEAs enroll 97 percent of all students in schools that participate in the NSLP. This is an increase from SY 2004-2005, when 56 percent of LEAs, enrolling 77 percent of all students in NSLP schools, directly certified some SNAP-participant students. Nationally, the number of school age SNAP participants was 16 percent higher at the start of SY 2010-2011 than it was at the start of SY 2009-2010, and States and LEAs directly certified 1.9 million more students in SY 2010-2011 than in the previous year. Analysis in this report estimates that 78 percent of children in SNAP households were directly certified for free school meals, substantially higher than last year's rate of 72 percent. Eight States achieved direct certification rates higher than 90 percent, whereas three had direct certification rates lower than 60 percent. Appended are: (1) Additional Tables and Figures; (2) Verification Summary Report; (3) Estimation of Component Statistics; (4) Data Limitations; and (5) Corrections. A glossary of acronyms and abbreviations is included. (Contains 12 tables, 16 figures and 54 footnotes.) [For "Direct Certification in the National School Lunch Program State Implementation Progress, School Year 2010-2011. Report to Congress--Summary," see ED528249.]