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Reimbursement Categories

The USDA annually establishes national average payment rates for meals, which are intended to reflect the cost of operating the programs.

Lunch Reimbursement
General cash assistance (Section 4) is disbursed for all eligible lunches. Special assistance (Section 11) funds are paid for meals served free or at a reduced price to eligible children.

Utah law provides for a 13 percent tax on the sale of wine and distilled liquor to administer a school lunch program in the public schools. Funds are disbursed according to the number of lunches claimed and may vary from month to month.

An additional two cents per lunch is available to LEAs that served 60 percent or more free and reduced-price lunches district-wide during the second preceding year.

Breakfast Reimbursement
Cash assistance is disbursed for all eligible breakfasts served according to the categories (free, reduced-price, paid) of the children served. No state funds are available for the SBP.

Breakfast Severe Need
Severe need payments may be made for free and reduced-price breakfasts served in selected schools. These payments are in addition to regular reimbursement. To qualify for the severe need reimbursement, the schools must meet the following criteria:

• The school is participating in or initiating a breakfast program.
• Forty percent or more of the lunches at the school in the second preceding year were served to students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals.

Contact your specialist regarding new schools located in the same geographic area as other facilities which have in the past qualified for severe need. When a majority of the students were transferred from severe need schools, new schools may demonstrate that they qualify for severe need reimbursement if they serve at least 40 percent of their lunches free or at a reduced price for the first three claims of the current year. Severe need reimbursements to these new schools will have retroactive effect encompassing the three months that were used to establish the school's eligibility.

Special Milk Reimbursement
Reimbursement at actual dairy cost per half-pint of milk is available under the "free milk" program with approved applications filed with the LEA for each participating child. If children's eligibility is not determined, or the program is non-pricing, milk will be reimbursed at the annually established rate, which is less than the full cost of the milk. No state funds are available for this program. (See Special Milk Program.)