Category: News

New Eligibility Guidelines For Free And Reduced School Meals Announced For The 2024-25 School Year, Helping More Families Access Resources (June 29, 2024)

06/27/2024

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released federal income eligibility guidelines for free and reduced-price school meals and free milk for July 2024 – June 2025, expanding access to resources and helping more kids and their families get what they need to fuel their minds and bellies.

Schools, and other institutions and facilities, use the guidelines to determine eligibility for the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, the Special Milk Program for Children, the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and the Summer Food Service Program.

To apply, households receiving benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) need only include the SNAP or TANF case number on their application. Households enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) or Medicaid may qualify for free or reduced-price school meals based on income and should complete a Household Meal Benefit Application. Other households can find more information on the commonwealth’s COMPASS website.

In accordance with federal civil rights law and USDA civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.

Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

The following annual income eligibility guidelines are effective July 1, 2024, until further notice:

​Free Meals – 130%
​Household Size​Annual​Monthly​Twice per Month(24 pay periods/year)​Every Two Weeks(26 pay periods/year)​Weekly
​1​$19,578.00$1,632.00$816.00$753.00$377.00
​2$26,572.00$2,215.00$1,108.00$1,022.00$511.00
​3$33,566.00$2,798.00$1,399.00$1,291.00$646.00​
​4$40,560.00$3,380.00$1,690.00$1,560.00$780.00
​5$47,554.00$3,963.00$1,982.00$1,892.00$915.00
​6$54,548.00$4,546.00$2,273.00$2,098.00$1049.00
​7$61,542.00$5,129.00$2,565.00$2,367.00$1,184.00
​8$68,536.00$5,712.00$2,856.00$2,636.00$1,318.00
​​​​​​
​For each add’l family member, add$6,994.00$583.00$292.00$269.00$135.00
Reduced Price meals – 185%
​Household Size​Annual​Monthly​Twice per Month(24 pay periods/year)​Every Two Weeks(26 pay periods/year)​Weekly
​1$27,861.00$2,322.00$1,161.00$1,072.00$536.00
​2$37,814.00$3,152.00$1,576.00$1455.00$728.00
​3$47,767.00$3,961.00$1,991.00$1838.00​$919.00
​4$57,720.00$4,810.00$2,405.00$2,220.00$1,110.00
​5$67,673.00$5,640.00$2,820.00$2,603.00$1,302.00
​6$77,626.00$6,469.00$3,235.00$2,986.00$1,493.00
​7$87,579.00$7,299.00$3,650.00$3,369.00$1,685.00
​8$97,532.00$8,128.00$4,064.00$3,752.00$1876.00
​
​
​For each add’l family member, add$9,953.00$830.00$415.00$383.00$192.00

To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ad-3027.pdf, from any USDA office by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:

mail:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or

fax:
(833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or

email:
[email protected]

PA “Meets Requirements” as USDE Eyes IDEA Part B Updates (June 29, 2024)

According to 2022 fiscal year data, 38 states, territories, and the District of Columbia were categorized as “needs assistance” with regard to implementing special education requirements and improving student outcomes  for students ages 3-21 during the year evaluated or for two or more consecutive years. On June 21st, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) released a list of state determinations. The previous year’s “needs assistance”  number was 35.

Twenty states and the Republic of the Marshall Islands earned the highest rating of “meets requirements.” No state fell into the lowest-performing category of “needs substantial intervention.” The Bureau of Indian Education received a rating of “needs intervention,” which is the next-to-last category.

According to The Advocacy Institute, a nonprofit organization that tracks IDEA state determinations, only six states — Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — have been rated as “meets requirements” each year since 2014.

As reported by K-12 Dive, for 2025 and beyond the USDE is considering three updates related to IDEA Part B determinations as part of efforts to “incorporate equity and improve results for children with disabilities.” These new provisions could include:
–Whether a state would be prohibited from attaining “meets requirements” if OSEP had identified long-standing noncompliance for at least three or more years.
–Additional factors for improvement in proficiency rates on regular and alternate statewide assessments. 
–Whether and how to continue including NAEP participation and proficiency in the state determinations. 

Additionally, the USDE is looking at two adjustments in IDEA Part C determinations. One would factor in long-standing noncompliance. The other concerns whether and how to consider certain data on results for child outcomes.

For more from K-12 Dive, click here.

PA Receives CMS School-Based Services Grant, CMS Provides New Resources (June 28, 2024)

On June 25, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the 18 states that are award recipients of the grants for the Implementation, Enhancement, and Expansion of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) School-Based Services (SBS). The states will use these funds to implement, support, or enhance their efforts to connect millions more children to critical health care services, especially mental health services, at school. Made possible by the historic investments of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), the states will each receive at least $2.5 million over 3 years for the implementation, enhancement, and expansion of the use of school-based health services through Medicaid and CHIP.

Additionally, the CMS school-based services technical assistance center released two additional resources as a part of its continual effort to support states in implementing school-based services in their schools. They are:
–Medicaid School-Based Services Readiness Checklist Tool: A resource to help state Medicaid agencies draft an SBS state plan amendment (SPA), adopt certain flexibilities, and generally assist in the process of working with CMS to reimburse for SBS.
–Updated School-Based Services Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Additional technical assistance FAQs for state Medicaid agencies based on questions received from the states.

To see the full list of states and learn more about the grants, visit Medicaid.gov.

Distributed by Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS).

$3.5 Million Awarded to Expand Access to Gifted Education in PA

On June 27, 2024. the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) announced that $3.5 million in grant funding has been awarded to expand access to gifted education programming in schools and serve more students through the Pennsylvania Gifted Equity Initiative (PGEI).

Under the grant program, a total of $3.5 million will be allocated to expand gifted services under a statewide support team consisting of state level leads, intermediate units, local education agencies (LEAs), and national leaders in equity to advance the equitable practices in gifted identification across the Commonwealth. The state team will interact with 400 school districts—or 80% of school districts—and each intermediate unit will receive approximately $135,000 over the five-year grant period to serve as the training hub for their region.

The selected intermediate units are as follows:​
-Midwestern IU 4
-Tuscarora IU 11
-Lancaster-Lebanon IU 13
-Berks County IU 14
-Central Susquehanna IU 16
-BLaST IU 17
-Carbon-Lehigh IU 21
-Bucks County IU 22
-Montgomery County IU 23
-Delaware County IU 25

As research shows that there is severe underrepresentation of African American, American Indian, and Hispanic/Latino students in gifted education, PGEI will provide school districts with the tools, training, and resources necessary to implement identification procedures that will increase the number of students identified as gifted.

The program will use federal Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program funding to develop systemic technical assistance and support to help school districts better identify and provide services to gifted students. This will allow educators to use culturally responsive tools to recognize potential in students; increase identification and retention rates of underrepresented students in gifted education; encourage collaboration between institutions of higher education to prepare pre-service teachers to better serve underrepresented gifted students; and provide support and training to families.

For more information on the Pennsylvania Department of Education, please visit the website.

Penn Analysis: Proposed $5B increase in Ed. Funding for PA Schools Would Deliver Long-term Benefits (June 25, 2024)

According to University of Pennsylvania analysts, there would be long-term benefits for public schools across the commonwealth from a $5.1 billion proposal to change the way Pennsylvania funds education. Released on June 18, 2024, the analysis by the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education quantified those prospective benefits. According to the analysis, there would be:
-Improved student outcomes including an additional 3,800 high school graduates, a 4.47% point increase in high school graduation rates, a 4.54% point increase in college enrollment and 3,860 more college enrollees, according to the report.
-Higher earnings for high school graduates over time and greater equity in staffing across school districts  with regard to teacher salaries.
-The creation of more than 18,000 K-12 jobs.

From a pupil services perspective, 82% of PA’s underfunded school systems would see student-teacher and student-counselor ratios rise to match those of well-funded systems.

According to lead researcher Brooks Bowden, associate professor of education and head of the Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education, benefits of improving school quality outweigh the cost through “a strategic investment that would pay off for the state and its students [who] would have better access to teachers and counselors, succeed in higher numbers, and strengthen the state’s workforce.”

As a result of a landmark 2023 Commonwealth Court decision that found that Pennsylvania’s existing education funding system fails to meet students’ constitutional rights by failing to provide sufficient resources for schools, a judge ordered the General Assembly to come up with a fix. Subsequently, the Basic Education Funding Commission spent months holding hearings and designing a system that would pour the $5.1 billion in additional funding into state schools over seven years.

For the 2024-25 school year, the proposal would increase education spending by $864 million statewide.

Thus far, the PA House has approved the new system, which is now before the PA Senate where some stiff resistance is expected.

For more details regarding the study, visit the Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.