Elimination of Reduced-Price Breakfast Costs
The 88th Texas Legislature is providing funding that reimburses schools for serving breakfasts to reduced-price eligible students for free. This funding is available for breakfasts served for the entirety of School Year 2024-2025. Please review the following questions for guidance and instructions on how to participate.
1. How much is the per-breakfast reimbursement?
For each reduced-price breakfast claimed during SY 2024-2025, schools will be reimbursed the amount they would have normally charged students for reduced-price breakfast as indicated in the school’s site application, up to a maximum of $0.30 per meal.
2. What are the allowable uses of this State-provided reimbursement?
Reimbursement provided by the State to offset the costs of eliminating reduced-price breakfast is considered program income and thus must accrue back to the nonprofit food service account. The same regulations and restrictions that apply to money received from a paying student also apply to this State-provided reimbursement.
3. If my school was planning to charge less than $0.30 for reduced-price meals, can I increase my price on the site application to receive the maximum reimbursement?
Yes. Keep in mind that the money received as a reimbursement must accrue to the nonprofit food service account. If you were charging lower prices or already planning to serve reduced-price meals for free to reduce an excess fund balance, consideration should be given before adjusting prices upward within the application.
4. If my school was already planning to offer breakfasts for free to reduced-price-eligible students and has no interest in receiving money from the State to offset my costs, can we opt out?
Yes. If you are charging for paid breakfasts, reimbursement for all breakfasts will be based on the price listed on the site application. If you do not wish to receive this State-provided reimbursement for reduced-price breakfasts served for free, simply list $0.00 for the cost of a reduced-price meal within the application.
NOTE: If you are NOT charging paid-designated students for breakfast, meaning your site application shows $0.00 for both paid and reduced-price breakfasts, then you must complete the Opt-Out form at the bottom of the page if you do not want reimbursement from the state. See the next question about Universal Breakfast for more information.
5. If I am offering Universal Breakfast to all students, either through a mandate from the State or by choice, am I eligible to receive this reimbursement?
Yes. However, schools offering Universal Breakfast (breakfasts served free to all students) must continue to show $0.00 for both the paid and reduced-price costs within the site application, as TX-UNPS will not allow a listed reduced-price cost to exceed the price of a paid breakfast. TDA will automatically provide $0.30 per reduced-price breakfast claimed to all schools offering Universal Breakfast, either through mandate or by choice.
6. Am I allowed to continue as normal and charge students for reduced-price breakfasts?
Yes. The legislation did not mandate that school districts participate. However, TDA is planning to automatically reimburse schools based on the prices listed on the site application. If you wish to continue to charge students for these meals, to avoid receiving unallowable double reimbursement, you must notify TDA of your intentions via the Request to Opt Out of State Reimbursement for Reduced-Price Breakfasts form so that your school can be removed from the distribution list.
7. If my school is operating the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) or Provision 2, is it eligible for this reimbursement?
No. Schools that elected to operate under a special provision are already serving all meals for free and thus not entitled to the State-provided reimbursement.
8. How should I adjust student eligibility status and meal pricing within my Point of Service (POS) system once I start offering meals for free to reduced-price eligible students?
It is very important that your POS is identifying each student based on their determined eligibility status – free, reduced, or paid. Do NOT change the status of reduced-price students to free. However, to avoid clerical errors or inadvertent negative balances, you must ensure that the price of all reduced-price meals is listed as $0.00 within the POS, even though your site application will still reflect the amount you would have normally charged for a reduced-price breakfast.
9. How will the elimination of reduced-price breakfast costs affect counting, claiming, and the standard federal reimbursement?
Counting and claiming will not be affected. As noted above, all meals served to students must be claimed based on each student’s respective eligibility status. TDA will process claims as normal within the regulatory timeframes. The State-provided reimbursement will be processed separately from the federal reimbursement and will be distributed 60 days after each claim submission.
10. What are the notification requirements to parents about the availability of free breakfasts for reduced-price-eligible students?
The Eligibility Determination templates on SquareMeals that are sent to the families of reduced-price-eligible students allow districts to enter the cost of the reduced-price meal. If offering reduced-price breakfasts for free the entire year, simply enter a cost of $0.00. If charging students for reduced-price breakfasts in August, you will need to modify the template to indicate the different prices for August and the rest of the school year.
If you have already sent out eligibility letters that do not reflect the availability of no-cost reduced-price meals, you do not need to send out another eligibility determination letter, but you must still notify the families of the price change via new correspondence.
11. How do CEs identify the Reduced-Price Breakfast Payments when received?
Schools eligible for Reduced-Priced Breakfast State GR match payments will receive monthly payments issued by TDA (agency # 551). You can check the Comptroller’s website for your payments. The invoice description for the Reduced-Price Breakfast State GR matches will indicate “RP-SBP School name. “. The invoice number will indicate RP-SBP Claim month/Year CE ID#
Acronyms:
RP = Reduced Price
SBP= School Breakfast Program