Observations on Selected Aspects of School Lunch Program Administration

A limited survey was conducted at three Pennsylvania school districts to obtain background information on selected aspects of school lunch program procedures for obtaining Federal reimbursement for lunches served.

All 13 elementary schools in one of the districts used monthly milk consumption records to determine the number of free lunches served during the month. Using such records could affect the accuracy of the count of free lunches. An envelope system is used to collect the lunch fees from the students, with those receiving a free lunch turning in an empty envelope. This system could be modified to more accurately count the number of free, reduced-price, and full-paid lunches served. Both schools in another school district were destroying meal tickets and daily tally sheets shortly after the meals were served, thereby making reported meal counts difficult to verify. Service regulations generally require that records supporting claims for Federal reimbursement be retained for 3 years. This district also included, as a cost of food used in its school menus, the estimated value of Government-donated commodities. Using these values as a basis for Federal reimbursement is improper since the schools do not pay for the commodities. Salaries of employees who were only partially involved or who were not involved at all were improperly charged to the State Administrative Expense fund.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: No director on record Team: No team on record Phone: No phone on record