Verification Process 2013-2014

Verification Process 2013-2014Summer Institute, New DirectorsTraining

Ebonique FariaKevin Dawson

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ESE Summer Institute 2013

Annual Verification Process At the beginning of each school year,

households with school aged children who have not been directly certified have the option to apply for free or reduced price meals.

Applications approved by districts as of October 1st are subject to the annual verification process.

Each LEA must annually verify the eligibility of children from a sample of household applications approved for free or reduced price meal benefits for that school year.

The Verification Summary Report must be submitted to ESE by the established annual due date.

Refer to the Eligibility Manual for School Meals for more information.

http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/lunch/

General Requirements Annually, each Local Education Agency (LEA)

must select and verify a sample of all applications approved for benefits.

The basic sample size would be the lesser of: 3% of ALL approved applications (as of October 1st) selected from “error prone” applications or, 3,000 approved error prone applications.

Error prone applications would be those that are within $100 of the monthly income guidelines.

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

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Timeline for VerificationOctober 1 October 2 October

12October 22

October 31

November 15

January 4, 2014

Select Sample Size

Letters mailed to households

Households deadline for response

Deadline for LEA to notify households

Date eligible benefit change to take effect

Verification report completed

Submitted on Security Portal


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Security Portal Compliance Packet05-444 Any School Department

*Fiscal Year FY 2014

Compliance Packet Disposition

Component Upload Disposition Disposition Date

Comments

Supplemental Financial Information Due Date: 12/01/2014

07/02/2013

Food Safety Inspection Report Due Date: 10/03/2013

07/02/2013

Verification Report (FNS-742) Due Date: 01/08/2014

07/02/2013

Accuclaim 2014 Upload 07/02/2013

FSMC Contract Info (SL Compliance) Due Date: 09/30/2013

07/02/2013


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School Nutrition Overview –Direct Verification

Massachusetts now requires all LEAs to conduct direct verification using the EOHHS Virtual Gateway for households selected for annual verification.

Direct Verification uses records from public agencies to verify household income for continued program participation.


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School Nutrition Overview –Direct Verification

Direct verification must be conducted through the EOHHS Virtual Gateway prior to contacting households to request verification documentation.

Only households with students that are unable to be directly verified through the Virtual Gateway need to be verified by the paper application process.

LEAs must not verify more than or less than the required number of applications that were determined to be needed.

Verification conducted ‘for cause’ is done in addition to the required verification.


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School Nutrition Overview –Direct Verification The LEA must only submit the names for school children

certified for free or reduced price meal benefits listed on the application.

The names of other household members (all adults, children who are not attending school, or children not approved for free or reduced price meals) cannot be submitted for direct verification purposes.

If information obtained through direct verification of an application for free or reduced price meal benefits indicates a child is participating in one of these programs, no additional verification is required. The eligibility status of the child or children listed on the application is considered verified.

The information used for direct verification must be the most recent information available which is defined as data which is no older than 180 days prior to the date of the free and reduced price application.


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Virtual Gateway Direct Verification

Direct Verification Steps: Logon to Virtual Gateway Under Business Service, click “My Account Page” (MAP) Options to upload Direct Verification list

1) Manual Upload Manually type in student first name, middle initial (optional),

last name, DOB (mm/dd/yyyy), SNP (School Nutrition Program) Status (F or R)

10 names per page is max amount for manual upload at a time

Repeat as necessary 2) File Upload

Prepare file for upload using provided template and save in .csv format

5000 records per spreadsheet is max amount for file upload at a time

Repeat as necessary Follow all existing policies and procedures surrounding

Direct Verification. Refer to Eligibility Manual for School Meals for more information.

http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/lunch/

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New Process: VG Match History for Direct Verification

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New Process:VG Manual Direct Verification

Refer to Key to Understanding Direct Certification and Direct Verification Match History Results Reference Guide for more information on Match Types.

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New Process:VG Manual Direct Verification


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New Process:VG File Upload Direct Verification


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Reporting the FNS-742


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Section 1


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Section 2


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Section 3


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Section 4


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Section 5


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Submit the completed form

05-444 Any School Department *Fiscal Year FY 2014

Compliance Packet Disposition

Component Upload Disposition Disposition Date

Comments

Supplemental Financial Information Due Date: 12/01/2014

07/02/2013

Food Safety Inspection Report Due Date: 10/03/2013

07/02/2013

Verification Report (FNS-742) Due Date: 01/08/2014

Submitted 07/02/2013

Accuclaim 2014 Upload 07/02/2013

FSMC Contract Info (SL Compliance) Due Date: 09/30/2013

07/02/2013


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Questions?

Verification Process 2013-2014

Documents

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