Free and Reduced-Price Eligibility Data

This Management Bulletin advises day care home sponsors of improvements to the Free and Reduced-Price Eligibility Data for Elementary Schools report that the California Department of Education (CDE) provides you. Specifically, we at the CDE have posted this data in our DataQuest Web application in order to improve the timeliness of the data. Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) day care home sponsors may use this information to establish tiering determinations effective June 1, 2007.

The CDE has determined that it is most efficient for sponsors to use the DataQuest Web application for tiering determinations because the department’s Technology Services Division updates this report more frequently than the reports we have provided you in prior years. Prior year reports were downloaded from DataQuest and reflected “point in time” data which frequently resulted in sponsors having no information on new schools or schools that failed to report in a timely manner.

The data is housed in the CDE’s DataQuest Web application that can be found at:

http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest

Using this Web application will allow day care home sponsors to obtain the most current free and reduced-price meal information separately for each district in their service areas.

Following are instructions on how to obtain a district-wide report with school data:

From the main DataQuest Web page:

1. Select Level – select “District”
2. Select Subject – select “Other – Create your own Report”
3. Submit the request

This will take you to the “Select Year of Data and Enter District Name” page:

1. Determine the time frame - choose “2006-07”
2. Type a portion of the district name (example, Alta)
3. Submit the request

This will take you to the “Select Your Own Data” page:

1. Check the box Free or Reduced Price Meals under “Socio-economic indicators”
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page
   1. Select District – (there may be more than one option),
   2. Select a Report – choose the “District summary (with school data)”
3. Submit the request

The result will be a report that identifies all schools within a district in an easy to read format that you can print or copy and insert into a word processing document or spreadsheet.

As in prior years, you may find schools that do not report current meal eligibility information or report that 100 percent of the children are eligible for free or reduced-price meals. One of the primary reasons for this type of reporting is that the school is using a claiming alternative (i.e., Provision 2 or 3). As such, the school only collects eligibility information during the “base-year” of operation. If meal eligibility percentages for a school are reported as zero, you must contact the school food service director and obtain in writing, on school letterhead, the Provision “base-year” enrollment and eligibility data. 

There are several other reasons why data is reported as zero or is not available for a specific school. In those cases, you are to contact the school food service director and obtain in writing, on school letterhead, enrollment and eligibility data reported in the October 2006, National School Lunch Program Claim for Reimbursement.

This revised policy will enable you to ensure that providers who are area eligible for tier 1 are not penalized because a lack of data in the system. In both cases, you must place a copy of the letter along with acceptable verification of the school’s attendance area in each provider’s file to document tier 1 area eligibility.

If you have questions regarding the use of this report or need assistance, you may contact Ruth Cardiel, Day Care Home Specialist, at 916-322-8319, or 800- 952-5609, or by e-mail at rcardiel@cde.ca.gov. You may also contact Laurie Pennings, Manager, Community Nutrition Programs, at 916-324-7133 or by e-mail at lpennings@cde.ca.gov.