Child Nutrition Program Reauthorization Center

February 2004

USDA Studies Find that
Income Verification in the National School Lunch Program Does Harm, Without Doing Good

USDA has released reports of two studies and preliminary findings of a third study that examine certification accuracy in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Although not nationally representative, they confirm the findings of past nationally representative studies of certification accuracy and verification in the NSLP. The three studies are:

• Evaluation of the NSLP Application/Verification Pilot Projects: Findings on Deterrence, Barriers and Accuracy
  
  
• Case Study of Verification Outcomes in Large Metropolitan Areas
  
  
• School Food Authority Administration of NSLP Free and Reduced Price Eligibility Determination

The studies examined the accuracy of free and reduced price meal certifications in several different ways. Parts of the studies looked at the accuracy of income eligibility determinations when school food service staff reviewed initial applications for school meals. Other sections of the studies looked at the accuracy of eligibility determinations during the income verification process.

In order to determine certification accuracy, some parts of the studies compared the income reported on applications or income documents with the eligibility determinations made by school food service staff. For other sections of the studies, USDA actually interviewed families a few months into the school year in order to ascertain their actual household incomes.

While the three studies approach the accuracy of certifications from many different angles, the results can be pieced together into four main findings:

1. There is no evidence that income verification increases the accuracy of certifications.
   
   
2. Increased verification poses a significant "barrier effect" for eligible children (keeping low-income children out of the program):
   
   
   • Increasing verification causes a 20% drop, and requiring income documentation at the time of application causes a 15% drop, in the percentage of children eligible for free meals who are certified to receive either free or reduced price meals.
     
     
   • Half of the families in metropolitan areas who are asked to verify their incomes do not respond to the verification notices, but over two-thirds of these non-responding families (who automatically lose their benefits when they do not respond) are actually still eligible for free or reduced price meals.
     
     
3. A few months into the school year, 17% to 20% of children certified for free lunch are not eligible for free meals. When the numbers are broken out, however, the percentage of children receiving free lunch but who are not eligible for them due to misreporting of family income is closer to 4%:
   
   
   • More than two-thirds (70%) of the children who are ineligible for free meals are low-income and still eligible for reduced price meals.
     
     
   • Administrative mistakes by school food service staff contribute significantly to the problem, as they account for over a quarter of the misclassifications.
     
     
   • The remaining percentage of children who are certified for free meals although their family income is different at the point of verification from what is listed on their applications is about 4%, but some of those families were eligible when they applied: household income was examined between late October and late December, months after their applications were submitted.
     
     
4. There are more eligible children not certified for the program than ineligible children certified for the program:
   
   
   • Less than three-quarters (69% and 54%, according to two different studies) of children who are eligible for free meals are actually certified for free or reduced price meals (when directly certified children are included, 79% and 59% of children who are eligible are certified for free meals).
     
     
   • More than one-quarter of the children in the reduced price category should actually be certified for free meals.

Click here for the Center on Budget and Policy Prorities' analysis of the implications of these new USDA research findings.

Click here for more details on the debate over school lunch overcertification.

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Prepared by the Food Research & Action Center, 1875 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20009; 202-986-2200; www.frac.org