Human Services News

From Center on Budget: Food Assistance:

Over the past three years, school districts and the state agencies that run the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program) have been implementing a federal requirement designed to provide food assistance to needy children who are eligible for it and eliminate unnecessary paperwork for families and schools.

Under the requirement, known as “direct certification,” states and school districts now work together to ensure that the 9 million school-age children in households receiving SNAP benefits are automatically enrolled for free school meals.

School districts rely on detailed information on households’ income collected by the SNAP agency so families can bypass the standard school meals application process. Children in households receiving SNAP benefits were already eligible for free meals; the new requirement ensures that they are enrolled for free meals.

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