" July 1, 2022 - USDA announced new PLE flexibilities for SY 2022-2023. Any NSLP CE with a positive or zero balance in its nonprofit school food service account as of December 31, 2021, is exempt from PLE pricing requirements for SY 2022-2023. Additionally, USDA is exempting CEs with a negative nonprofit food service account balance as of December 31, 2021, from raising meal prices in accordance with PLE requirements. CEs with a negative balance planning to use this flexibility must notify TDA via request form available on the Intake Forms page of SquareMeals.org.
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July 1, 2022 - The 2022-2023 Paid Lunch Equity (PLE) tool was posted to SquareMeals on May 24. When completing the PLE tool, CEs should use the price they last charged students as the basis for their SY 2022-2023 PLE calculation. For many CEs, this may be SY 2019-2020 prices. In addition, the latest PLE tool indicates that CEs should enter claims data from October 2021. CEs that do not have October 2021 data because they were operating SSO may enter the most recent claims data they have into this field.
Per the Consolidated Appropriations Act, any NSLP CE with a positive or zero balance in its nonprofit school food service account as of December 31, 2021, is exempt from PLE pricing requirements for SY 2022-2023. CEs must document use of this flexibility but are not required to notify TDA.
To assist CEs and families in transitioning from universal free meal service to paid meals, USDA is exempting CEs with a negative nonprofit food service account balance as of December 31, 2021, from raising meal prices in accordance with PLE requirements. CEs with a negative balance planning to use this flexibility must notify TDA by completing the Notification of Paid Lunch Equity (PLE) Requirement Exemption Form, available on the
Intake Forms page of SquareMeals.org here.
Note that schools should carefully review their budgets before adjusting their paid lunch prices in SY 2022-2023. Some considerations include:
- Reimbursement will return to NSLP rates
- Reimbursement will still be based on the eligibility of a child
- Increased food costs
- Fluctuation in participation
- Meal quality should not decrease if a school lowers their paid lunch prices
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