Meal Application and Verification Information

IMPORTANT

The Child Nutrition Eligibility & Education Benefit Application is launching for school year 2024–25 and must be distributed by all LEAs, including those operating CEP and Provision 2.

Contact Information

National School Lunch Program (NSLP)/School Breakfast Program (SBP)

360-725-6200
TTY: 360-664-3631

Staff Contacts

Schools send school meal applications home at the beginning of each school year. However, families may apply for school meals any time during the school year by submitting an application directly to their school or district. Free and Reduced-Price Meal eligibility is based on financial circumstances for each family unless a district offers free meals school-wide.

These materials are templates for school district use. FAMILIES: please visit the Washington School Meals Application Finder or your school district's website for your application materials.

Eligibility Manual

Child Nutrition Eligibility & Education Benefit Application Information
Application Materials
These materials are templates for school district use. FAMILIES- please visit the Washington School Meals Application Finder or your school district's website for application materials.
 

SY 2024-25 Materials

Direct Certification
Disclosure of Free and Reduced-Price Information and Eligibility Status
It's More Than a Meal Application Toolkit

This toolkit is designed to help districts promote the importance of families filling out the Free and Reduced-Price Meal Application each year. The information collected on these forms can help schools receive funding for important programs.

Flyers & Templates

Social Media

This toolkit is modified from the LA Unified School District's More Than a Meal Toolkit.

Summer EBT or SUN Bucks

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 authorized a permanent, nationwide Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (Summer EBT) program—also known as SUN Bucks—to support children who lose access to free and reduced-price school meals during the summer months. Summer EBT benefits will be issued to all eligible students. The benefit amount is $120 per student and will be made available on a ‘SUN Bucks’ card. Benefits are planned to be issued June–August.

Information & Eligibility Requirements

Promotional Materials

Verification of Applications

Verification of free and reduced-price meal applications is an annual requirement for all local education agencies (LEAs) that collect eligibility applications to determine free and reduced-price meal benefits for students. Qualifying LEAs include public school districts, private schools, and Residential Child Care Institutions (RCCIs). Verification is the confirmation of current eligibility for free and reduced-price meals under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP). Verification is only required when eligibility has been approved through the application process (not directly certified students).

Instructions & Tools for Completing the Verification Process

Verification Summary Report

The Verification Summary Report is due by February 1 Each Year!

The Verification Summary Report (VSR) is completed in the Washington Integration Nutrition System (WINS). To learn more about this process, please view the School Meal Programs Training webpage and select the Program Training dropdown.

To discover more about this process, we recommend the following:

1. Review the VSR Update Training.
2. If you are new to verification, review these two trainings (note: you will need a free Moodle account to view these trainings):

To assist in collecting data, you can use the old VSR template. Here are instructions for the old VSR template, and previous training, if you would like to view them.