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Sessions

3:15 pm - 4:00 pm

Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) Makes Cents

Room 4, 3:15 pm - 4:00 pm
Nebraska ranks 48th in school breakfast participation.  Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is a powerful tool for high poverty schools to provide free breakfast and lunch to students.  A school/district qualifies for CEP when at least 40% of its students are directly certified for free school meals because they receive SNAP, TANF, Medicaid, or FDPIR assistance.  Students who are homeless, migrant, runaways, in Head Start, and in foster care also can be directly certified for free school meals.  Eligible schools/districts in Nebraska have been hesitant to adopt CEP due to unknown impact on federal funding sources such as Title I, ERate, and TEEOSA.  Attend this session to see  data indicating that after five years of CEP implementation there has been little impact on these funding sources.  Historically, participation in CEP has increased participation in school breakfast and lunch, allows for easier implementation of alternative breakfast service models, may solve your unpaid school meal debt, and reduce the stigma that school meals are for low-income children.
Presenters
Sharon Davis, Administrator of Nutrition Services, Nebraska Department of Education