August 18, 2022 - Application Packet Processing Timelines, Amendments, Documentation Submission, Budget Detail Review, Meal Time Overlap Error Message, Withdraw From SFSP, Site Application Naming Conventions.
August 18, 2022 - Important Reminders. Do you meet the SFSP Applicant criteria? Need help navigating TX-UNPS?
August 18, 2022 - Requests for increases in compensation must be reasonable, allocable, and necessary. TDA will consider the following salary increases using SFSP federal funding: 5% for routine annual or merit-based increases and 10% for promotional increases. Job description reviews may occur with promotional increases to ensure that the proposed change aligns with additional duties.
August 1, 2022 - TDA has developed a new resource to collect racial/ethnic data of Program participants at open sites. This new resource aligns with the best practices and guidance provided by USDA in recent guidance and provided in TDA's Frequently Asked Questions documents.
August 1, 2022 - WBSCM training begins October 2022 for Recipient Agencies (aka CEs) in the pilot group. To prepare, TDA is collecting account access information and hosting a series of short WBSCM demos in August and September.
August 1, 2022 - This handy reference for Program operators across all Child Nutrition Programs (CNPs) is a simple and easy-to-use resource that highlights the basics of crediting for the meats/meat alternates component.
July 1, 2022 - Per the recently passed Keep Kids Fed Act (KKFA), TDA can now use its approved statewide waivers to allow all SFSP and SSO sites to resume non-congregate service, no child/parent pickup, and offsite monitoring flexibilities without those waivers being related to a specific COVID-19 event. Other flexibilities will be available soon as well.
July 1, 2022 - Team Nutrition is excited to announce that training videos on navigating the Food Buying Guide (FBG) Mobile App are now available. These short videos are broken into four chapters to provide users with step-by-step instructions on using the Mobile App and its different components.
July 1, 2022 - The ordering functions in the TX-UNPS FDP module for NSLP and SFSP will transition to USDA's Web-Based Supply Chain Management (WBSCM) system.
Updated June 8, 2022 - USDA has recently released guidance regarding the AJFA posters. Currently, USDA is working with TDA and will provide newly printed AJFA posters later this year. TDA is working on a statewide distribution plan and will communicate to all CEs when posters are available and being sent to your CE locations to be distributed to your sites.
June 9, 2022 - New Summer 2022 FAQs have been published on the SquareMeals.org COVID-19 response page. Please familiarize yourself with the guidance, as operations are expected to transition back to pre-pandemic standards.
June 1, 2022 - TDA is requesting from USDA the discretion to allow summer sites experiencing extreme heat or other extreme weather events to serve non-congregate meals on those days. If approved, TDA will provide further guidance on the request process.
June 1, 2022 - Establishing 3E’s grant recipients attended MegaCon to showcase their projects.
June 1, 2022 - The SSO age/grade meal pattern portion sizes exemption is now available in TX-UNPS. CEs participating in SSO that are operating open and restricted open sites and have difficulty implementing the age/grade group requirements may apply for an exemption.
June 1, 2022 - Webinars are available if you're looking to start a garden. Also subscribe to The Dirt, a newsletter from USDA FNS's Farm to School Program.
June 1, 2022 - TDA has updated the 2021-2022 School Data Report for Area Eligibility to account for new flexibilities available to Contracting Entities that operated the Seamless Summer Option during SY 2021-2022.
June 1, 2022 - TDA has been authorized to approve non-congregate, meal service time, parent pick-up, and offsite monitoring waivers on a case-by-case basis in instances when a COVID-19 outbreak in or around the area of a site is affecting food service operations.
June 1, 2022 - The Nondiscrimination Statement required on all public-facing Program materials has recently been updated to account for a recent court decision determining that the prohibition of discrimination based on sex in Title IX and the Food and Nutrition Act includes gender identity and sexual orientation.
March 1, 2022 - The “CV” naming conventions of “CVGG” and “CVHD” are discontinued in site applications.
March 1, 2022 - Combined base salaries for CEs operating both SFSP and CACFP cannot exceed the maximum allowable base salaries as established in TDA’s CACFP Compensation Protocol.
February 4, 2022 - Returning Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) Contracting Entities (CEs) for SFSP program year 2022 may enter in the site applications no more than the amount listed on the Maximum Approvable ADP list. The Maximum ADP list found on www.squaremeals.org under Summer News provides the maximum approvable ADP for the site by meal type for SFSP 2022.
The “CV” naming conventions of “CVGG” and “CVHD” are discontinued in site applications.
January 12, 2022 - Returning Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) Contracting Entities (CEs) for SFSP program year 2022 may enter in the site applications no more than the amount listed on the Maximum Approvable ADP list. The Maximum ADP list provides the maximum approvable ADP for the site by meal type for SFSP 2022. Click the link in the title to find the list at the bottom of the next page. The list is used to determine the maximum ADP for each site.
July 28, 2021 - The School Nutrition Program (SNP) site applications must be submitted and approved as a prerequisite for SSO application processing. SSO sites submitted for approval will be returned for correction if there are no SNP site applications in submitted and/or approved status.
April 14, 2021 - Requests for increases in compensation must be reasonable, allocable, and necessary.
November 1, 2020 - When entering meal service times, the system will respond with an Error Message if two meals occur within the same date range, on the same day of the week and overlap in meal service times.
September 1, 2020 - Please be aware the Budget Detail cost categories will be reviewed with an increased focus. CEs should be prepared to provide further cost details if requested.