Community Eligibility:
The Key to Hunger-Free
Schools
School Year 2021–2022
June 2022 n www.FRAC.org
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n twitter @fractweets 2
Community Eligibility:
The Key to Hunger-Free Schools
School Year 2021–2022
June 2022
Acknowledgments
The Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) gratefully
acknowledges the dedicated support of its work to
expand and improve the school meals programs from
the following:
n Annie E. Casey Foundation
n Anonymous
n The From Now On Fund of the Tides Foundation
n General Mills, Inc.
n The JPB Foundation
n Kaiser Foundation Health Plan
n Kellogg Company Fund
n Newman's Own Foundation
n Nourishing Neighbors, a Program of the Albertsons
Companies Foundation
This report was written by Allyson Pérez and
Crystal FitzSimons. The findings and conclusions
presented in this report are those of FRAC alone.
About FRAC
The Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) improves
the nutrition, health, and well-being of people struggling
against poverty-related hunger in the United States
through advocacy, partnerships, and by advancing bold
and equitable policy solutions. For more information
about FRAC, or to sign up for FRAC’s e-newsletters,
go to frac.org.
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n June 2022 3
Executive Summary
T
he Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) allows
high-need schools to oer breakfast and lunch
at no charge to all students on a four-year cycle.
Created through the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of
2010, participation in community eligibility has grown
each year since it became available nationwide in the
2014–2015 school year. Any district, group of schools in
a district, or school with 40 percent or more “identified
students”—children who are eligible for free school meals
and already identified by means other than an individual
household application—can choose to participate.
Schools that participate in community eligibility often see
increased participation in school meals, allowing more
students to experience the many educational and health
benefits linked to school meal participation. A recent
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) community
eligibility study on school year 2016–2017 found a 6.8
percent increase in school lunch participation and a 12.1
percent increase in school breakfast in the first year of
implementation.
1
Under community eligibility, schools
no longer have to collect and process school meal
applications, which reduces administrative costs and
paperwork, allowing school nutrition sta to focus more
on oering healthy, appealing meals. Moreover, oering
meals at no charge to all students eliminates the stigma
from the perception that school meals are only for “low-
income children,” and facilitates the implementation of
breakfast after the bell service models, such as breakfast
in the classroom, which further boosts participation.
During the 2021–2022 school year, all schools had the
option of oering breakfast and lunch at no charge
through the Seamless Summer Option (SSO) waiver, and
90 percent of school nutrition departments nationwide
have chosen this option.
2
The SSO waiver also provided
schools the higher summer food reimbursement rates—
free meals for all students combined with more funding
have been critical to school nutrition finances as school
nutrition departments have continued to struggle with
supply chain disruptions and increased stang costs.
This waiver and many others were made possible due
to USDA’s expanded waiver authority that Congress
provided in response to the pandemic. Without
Congressional action, these waivers are set to expire
on June 30, 2022.
During the 2021–2022 school year, there was a small
increase in the total number of school districts
3
and a
small decrease in the total number of schools adopting
community eligibility even if most did not ocially
operate under the provision and instead opted for the
higher reimbursement rates made available through the
1
U.S. Department of Agriculture (2022). USDA Community Eligibility Provision Characteristics Study, School Year 2016–2017 (Summary).
Available at https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/resource-files/CEPSY2016-2017-Summary.pdf.
2
U.S. Department of Agriculture (2022). Results of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service-Administered School Food
Authority Survey on Supply Chain Disruptions. Available at https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/resource-files/FNS-Survey-
Supply-Chain-Disruptions.pdf.
3
This report uses the term “school district” to refer to a Local Education Agency (LEA). LEAs include large school districts with hundreds of schools,
as well as LEAs with charter schools where the school is often the only one in that LEA.
Community Eligibility:
The Key to Hunger-Free Schools
School Year 2021–2022
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Year
14,184
8–Year Trend in Schools Adopting in Community Eligibility
Number of Schools Participating
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
18,173
20,678
24,900
28,809
30,620
33,407
2021
33,300
35,000
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n June 2022 4
SSO waiver. Here are the top-level findings for this year:
n 5,543 school districts have one or more schools
adopting community eligibility, an increase of 35
school districts, or 0.6 percent, from the 2020–2021
school year;
n 33,300 schools have adopted community eligibility,
a decrease of 107 schools, or 0.3 percent, from the
prior school year;
n 74.3 percent of eligible schools have adopted
community eligibility;
4
and
n 16.2 million children attend a school that has adopted
community eligibility, an increase of over 240,000
children, or 1.5 percent, from the prior school year.
Despite these numbers, there are many eligible schools
that have not adopted community eligibility, even
though they and their students stand to benefit from
community eligibility. Take-up rates vary substantially
across the states. Several factors that existed prior
to the pandemic, such as challenges associated with
the loss of traditional school meal application data,
low rates of direct certification (the latter being the
foundation of community eligibility), and variation in the
use of community eligibility and child nutrition waivers
oered for the 2021–2022 school year, have hindered
widespread adoption in some states and school districts.
Further, many schools and school districts across the
country saw a decrease in student enrollments, which
is reflected in some states in the number of children
attending schools that have adopted community
eligibility even as the national number increased.
5
However, barriers can be overcome with strong state,
district, and school-level leadership; hands-on technical
assistance from national, state, and local stakeholders;
and peer-to-peer learning among districts.
As school districts look ahead to the 2022–2023
school year, community eligibility oers an important
opportunity to continue providing nutritious breakfasts
and lunches at no charge to students at high-need
schools across the country when the USDA child
nutrition waivers are set to expire.
6
When schools,
districts, and families are forced to return to pre-
pandemic school nutrition operations, school breakfast
and lunch will be a critical nutrition support for the
millions of children whose families have been impacted
by the economic crisis related to the COVID-19
pandemic. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, State
child nutrition agencies, and anti-hunger and education
advocates can work together to promote community
eligibility to eligible school districts and to provide
technical assistance and support to allow these
districts to implement community eligibility successfully
and sustainably.
About This Report
This report analyzes community eligibility adoption—
nationally and for each state and the District of
Columbia—in the 2021–2022 school year, and is
based on three measures:
n the number of eligible and adopting school
districts and schools;
n the share of eligible districts and schools that
have adopted community eligibility; and
n the number and share of eligible schools that
have adopted, based on the school’s poverty
level.
It is important to note that even as school districts
and schools have adopted community eligibility,
most (90 percent of school nutrition departments
nationwide
2
) operated through the Seamless
Summer Option, which allowed them to oer
breakfast and lunch to all students at no charge and
provided a higher reimbursement rate for each meal.
As a companion to this report, the Food Research
& Action Center has compiled all data collected in a
database of eligible and adopting schools, which can
be searched by state and school district.
4
To participate in community eligibility, approximately two-thirds of the students in the school or school district must live in a low-income
household. School districts can implement community eligibility in one school, a group of schools, or districtwide if the school, group of schools,
or district has at least 40 percent of its students directly certified to receive free or reduced-price school meals, primarily due to their household’s
participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. An analysis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that for every 10 children
who are certified for free school meals outside of the school meal application process, an additional six would be certified through a school meal
application.
5
Kamentz, Anya, Turner, Cory, and Khurana, Mansee. National Public Radio (2021). Where Are the Students? For a Second Straight Year, School
Enrollment is Dropping. Available at: https://www.npr.org/2021/12/15/1062999168/school-enrollment-drops-for-second-straight-year.
6
FRAC and our education, child, youth-serving, and anti-hunger partners continue to call on Congress to extend USDA's waivers nationwide
through September 30, 2023, before they expire on June 30, 2022.
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n June 2022 5
How CEP Works
Community eligibility schools are high-need schools
that oer breakfast and lunch to all students at no
charge and use significant administrative savings to
oset any additional costs over and above federal
reimbursements of serving free meals to all. Instead
of collecting school meal applications, community
eligibility schools are reimbursed for a percentage
of the meals served, using a formula based on the
percentage of students who are certified for free
school meals without an application (for example,
students whose households participate in specific
means-tested programs, such as the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)).
There are many benefits that community eligibility
provides to schools and families:
n schools no longer collect, process, or verify school
meal applications, saving significant time and
administrative burdens;
n schools do not need to track each meal served
by fee category (free, reduced-price, paid), and
instead report total meal counts;
n school nutrition sta do not need to collect fees
from students who are eligible for reduced-price
or paid school meals, allowing students to move
through the cafeteria line faster, and ensuring that
more children can be served;
n oering meals at no charge to all students
increases participation among all students
because it eliminates any perception that the
school meals programs are just for children from
households with low incomes; and
n schools no longer have to deal with unpaid school
meal debt for reduced-price and paid students
at the end of the school year, or follow up with
families when students do not have money to pay
for meals.
How Schools Can Participate
Any district, group of schools in a district, or a
school with 40 percent or more “identified students”
is eligible to participate in community eligibility.
Identified students are comprised of students
certified for free school meals without an application.
This includes:
n children directly certified for free school meals
through data matching because their households
receive SNAP, Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families, or Food Distribution Program on Indian
Reservations benefits, and in some states,
Medicaid benefits; and
n children who are certified for free school meals
without an application because they are home-
less, migrant, runaway, enrolled in Head Start, or
in foster care.
School districts may choose to participate school
by school, districtwide, or group schools at their
discretion if the school, school district, or group has
an overall identified student percentage (ISP) of 40
percent or higher.
Identified students are a subset of those eligible
for free and reduced-price school meals. This is
a smaller group than the total number of children
who would be certified to receive free or reduced-
price school meals if school meal applications were
collected. For that reason, a multiplier (discussed
below) is applied to the ISP. Schools that qualify for
community eligibility typically have free and reduced-
price percentages of 65–70 percent or higher if
traditional school meal applications were collected
from student households.
How Schools Are Reimbursed
Although all meals are oered at no charge to all
students in schools that participate in community
eligibility, federal reimbursements are based on the
proportion of low-income children in the school. The
ISP is multiplied by 1.6 to calculate the percentage
of meals reimbursed at the federal free rate, and the
remainder are reimbursed at the lower paid rate.
The 1.6 multiplier was determined by Congress to
reflect the ratio of six students certified to receive
free or reduced price meals with an application for
every 10 students certified for free meals without
an application. This serves as a proxy for the
percentage of students that would be eligible for
free and reduced-price meals if the school districts
had collected school meal applications. For example,
a school with 50 percent identified students would
be reimbursed for 80 percent of the meals eaten at
the free reimbursement rate (50 x 1.6 = 80), and 20
percent at the paid rate.
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n June 2022 6
School District Adoption
Nationally, 5,543 school districts—63.8 percent
of those eligible—adopted the Community
Eligibility Provision in one or more schools.
7
This is a small increase of 35 school districts
since the 2020–2021 school year, when
5,508 school districts adopted. The smaller
nationwide increase in school district take-up
rates compared to prior years is likely due to
the availability of the Seamless Summer Option
waiver, which was announced as an option
to provide free meals in March 2021, months
before school districts determined whether or
not they would adopt community eligibility.
The median state’s take-up rate in school year
2021–2022 for eligible school districts is 68.6
percent; however, school district take-up rates
across the states vary significantly, from 18.8
percent or lower in Iowa, Kansas, and New
Hampshire, to over 90 percent in West Virginia,
Connecticut, Louisiana, North Dakota, Kentucky,
District of Columbia, Virginia, and Hawaii.
Several states saw increases in the 2021–2022
school year. Virginia had the largest growth
in the number of school districts adopting,
increasing by 25 school districts. Ohio
followed in school district adoption growth
with 12 school districts.
Twenty-two states have had small decreases
—between one and seven—in the number of
districts implementing community eligibility
in the 2021–2022 school year. Of those that
have had fewer school districts adopting in
community eligibility, 17 have had a decrease
7
Under federal law, states are required to publish annually
a list of school districts that are eligible for the Community
Eligibility Provision districtwide, as well as a list of individual
schools that are eligible, by May 1. During the pandemic,
USDA has allowed states to extend this deadline and other
community eligibility deadlines including for the 2022–
2023 school year. For more information on requirements
related to the published lists, see https://www.fns.usda.
gov/cn/covid-19-child-nutrition-response-82.
Hawaii
Virginia
District of Columbia
Kentucky
North Dakota
Louisiana
Connecticut
West Virginia
Wyoming
New Mexico
Nevada
Utah
Mississippi
Montana
Ohio
Delaware*
New York
South Carolina
Alaska
Idaho*
Alabama*
South Dakota
Pennsylvania
Tennessee
Georgia
Arizona*
Michigan
Missouri
North Carolina
Vermont
Florida
U.S. Total
Massachusetts
Arkansas
Washington
Maryland
New Jersey
Maine
Illinois
California
Oklahoma
Texas
Wisconsin
Rhode Island
Minnesota
Oregon
Indiana
Colorado
Nebraska
Iowa
Kansas
New Hampshire
100.0%
98.4%
97.7%
96.5%
96.0%
95.3%
94.7%
93.1%
87.5%
87.1%
82.6%
82.4%
82.0%
81.5%
81.5%
80.0%
78.8%
77.8%
76.7%
76.7%
76.3%
76.2%
75.4%
74.0%
72.7%
68.6%
67.3%
66.7%
64.7%
64.3%
64.2%
63.8%
63.5%
62.9%
60.7%
58.6%
57.7%
57.1%
57.0%
56.7%
53.7%
52.9%
46.9%
45.0%
44.0%
42.7%
40.6%
33.8%
19.1%
18.8%
5.1%
0.0%
Key Findings for the 2021–2022 School Year
Percentage of Eligible School Districts
Adopting Community Eligibility in
School Year 2021–2022
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n June 2022 7
in the number of eligible school districts. Nebraska has
had the largest decrease in adopting school districts—
seven school districts—despite adding 11 more eligible
school districts, resulting in the percentage of eligible
districts adopting decreasing from 27.9 percent to
19.1 percent.
A primary factor in the growth in school district
adoption of community eligibility in the 2020–2021
8
and 2021–2022 school years compared to the 2019–
2020 school year (prior to the pandemic impacting
school meal operations)
9
is the increase of identified
student percentages (ISPs) observed as a result of the
economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As
many families across the country found themselves in
greater financial need, this led to increased participation
in SNAP, leading to greater direct certification, and thus,
higher ISPs in schools and districts across the country.
10
Further, as more school districts overcome the
perceived barrier that community eligibility will change
Title I funding allocations dramatically, and those in
states that require alternative income applications for
state education funding and other purposes, work
through the challenges of collecting alternative income
applications, more school districts have been adopting
this provision.
Despite the slight increase in the 2021–2022 school
year, states need to focus on direct certification and
continue to improve their systems to ensure that school
districts can maintain the ISPs necessary to become and
remain eligible for community eligibility, and to ensure
that it continues to be a viable financial option for school
districts. In the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest
report on state direct certification rates, 12 states did not
meet the required benchmark of directly certifying 95
percent of children living in households that participated
in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
for free school meals in the 2018–2019 school year,
pointing to missed opportunities for school districts
to increase their ISPs to facilitate easier community
eligibility implementation.
11
As school districts transition from the Seamless
Summer Option waiver back to normal operations in
the upcoming school year, conducting robust direct
certification will be critical to support the implementation
of community eligibility. It also can help reduce the
number of school meal applications that districts have to
collect and process, particularly as many families have
not completed school meal applications during the last
two school years.
8
Food Research & Action Center (2021). Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, School Year 2020–2021. Available at
https://frac.org/wp-content/uploads/CEP-Report-2021.pdf.
9
Food Research & Action Center (2020). Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, School Year 2019–2020. Available at
https://frac.org/wp-content/uploads/CEP-Report-2020.pdf.
10
U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (2021). Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Transformed the U.S. Federal Food and
Nutrition Assistance Landscape. Available at https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2021/october/coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-trans-
formed-the-u-s-federal-food-and-nutrition-assistance-landscape/#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20SNAP%20participants,rest%20of%20
the%20fiscal%20year.
11
U.S. Department of Agriculture (2021). Direct Certification in the National School Lunch Program State Implementation Progress Report to
Congress School Year 2017–2018 and School Year 2018–2019. Available at https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/resource-files/
NSLPDirectCertification2017-1.pdf.
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n June 2022 8
School Adoption
In the 2021–2022 school year, there are
33,300 schools adopting community eligibility,
including schools from 49 states and the
District of Columbia. Overall, school adoption of
community eligibility decreased slightly, falling
by 107 schools from the prior school year. This
slight decrease in school participation was likely
driven by the March 2021 announcement of the
Seamless Summer Option waiver for the 2021–
2022 school year. In the 2021–2022 school year,
74.3 percent of all eligible schools have adopted
community eligibility nationally, with a median
state take-up rate of 77.9 percent.
Among the states, the percentage of eligible and
adopting schools varies significantly. Fourteen
states and the District of Columbia have 90
percent or more of their eligible schools adopting
community eligibility. An additional nine states
have 80 percent or more of their eligible schools
adopting. Alternatively, Colorado, Kansas,
Nebraska, and New Hampshire had less than
40 percent of their eligible schools adopting:
23.3 percent, 13.9 percent, 12.2 percent, and 0
percent, respectively.
Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia
have seen an increase in the number of schools
adopting community eligibility, and two states—
Rhode Island and North Dakota—maintained
the same number of community eligibility
schools during the 2021–2022 school year.
Virginia had the largest increase, with 226 more
schools adopting community eligibility since the
2020–2021 school year. Illinois and Washington
added 130 and 88 schools, respectively. Smaller
states with fewer eligible schools also have
made strong progress, including Hawaii, which
increased by 26 schools, and the District of
Columbia, which added 17 schools.
Twenty-two states have experienced a decrease
in the number of schools eligible to implement
community eligibility. The largest decreases
were in New York (612 schools),
12
North Carolina
12
New York’s decrease in school participation was driven by
school consolidation in the school district New York City
Chancellor’s Oce, and did not cause a corresponding
decrease in the number of children attending community
eligibility schools.
District of Columbia
Virginia
West Virginia
North Dakota
Connecticut
Pennsylvania
Kentucky
Delaware
Louisiana
Nevada
Wyoming
Hawaii
New York
Mississippi
New Mexico
Montana
Ohio
Massachusetts
Tennessee
Alaska
South Carolina
South Dakota
Maryland
Georgia
Missouri
Illinois
Vermont
Idaho
California
Michigan
U.S. Total
Alabama
Maine
Utah
North Carolina
Rhode Island
Oregon
Arkansas
Washington
Texas
Arizona
Wisconsin
New Jersey
Oklahoma
Indiana
Minnesota
Florida
Iowa
Colorado
Kansas
Nebraska
New Hampshire
99.5%
99.0%
97.9%
97.4%
96.8%
96.7%
95.8%
95.8%
95.6%
94.2%
92.9%
92.2%
91.9%
91.0%
90.8%
88.6%
88.1%
87.8%
86.8%
86.7%
84.9%
84.6%
80.6%
80.1%
78.4%
77.9%
77.6%
76.2%
75.3%
75.2%
74.3%
72.9%
72.1%
70.0%
67.5%
67.0%
65.0%
64.8%
64.4%
63.9%
63.7%
60.7%
60.4%
60.1%
52.9%
50.7%
49.5%
46.1%
23.3%
13.9%
12.2%
0.0%
Percentage of Eligible Schools
Adopting Community Eligibility in
School Year 2021–2022
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n June 2022 9
(76 schools), California (47 schools), and Oregon (34
schools). Despite growth nationally and in many states,
some states still have very low take-up rates compared
to the national average. In six states, less than 50
percent of all eligible schools are adopting community
eligibility.
School Adoption by Poverty Level
All schools that qualify for community eligibility are
considered to be high need, but a school’s ability to
implement community eligibility successfully—and
maintain financial viability—typically improves when
its ISP is higher. For this report, the Food Research
& Action Center examined the number of schools
adopting in each state, based on their ISP as a proxy
for the school’s poverty level.
Schools with higher ISPs receive the free
reimbursement rate for more meals, which makes
community eligibility a more financially viable option.
As a result, schools with ISPs of 60 percent and
above—those that receive the free reimbursement rate
for 100 percent or nearly 100 percent of their meals—
are more likely to participate in community eligibility
than schools with lower ISPs; that has been the case
since the program became available nationwide. Still,
since the 2016–2017 school year, the number of schools
participating with an ISP between 40 and 50 has more
than doubled, and the number of schools participating
with an ISP between 50 and 60 percent has increased
by nearly one-third, as schools become more familiar
with the positive impact of community eligibility on
school nutrition finances and the benefits for children
and families.
13
In the 2021–2022 school year, of the 33,300 schools
adopting community eligibility, the majority of
schools—19,150 or 57.5 percent—had ISPs of 60 percent
or higher. Of adopting schools with lower ISPs, 8,901
schools, or 26.7 percent, had ISPs between 50 and 60
percent, and 4,569 schools, or 13.7 percent, had ISPs
between 40 and 50 percent. Among schools with ISPs
between 40 and 50 percent, the national average of
take-up rate for eligible schools was 43.9 percent, with
a median of 57.4 percent.
Among states, the percentage of eligible versus
adopting schools in the 40 to 50 percent ISP group
varies significantly. Three states and the District of
Columbia had 90 percent or more eligible low ISP
schools adopting. An additional six states had 80
percent or more of their schools adopting. Alternatively,
Preparing for the 2022–2023
School Year
The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a
nationwide waiver to allow states to extend the
community eligibility deadlines for the upcoming
school year, which many states are utilizing. This
gives school districts (when they calculate their
ISP) additional time to run direct certification and
prepare for a return to community eligibility. The
school breakfast and lunch reimbursements
are calculated by multiplying the ISP by 1.6 to
determine the percentage of meals that will be
reimbursed at the free rate. For example, a school
with 50 percent identified students would be
reimbursed for 80 percent of the breakfasts and
lunches served at the free reimbursement rate
and the remaining 20 percent at the paid rate.
Leading up to the extended deadline of June 30
to set their ISP,
14
school districts should implement
direct certification best practices to set their
district’s ISP so that it will accurately reflect the
poverty level within the school for the upcoming
school year. Below is a list of some best practices:
n perform direct certification matches frequently
leading up to June 30;
n when possible, extend eligibility to students
living in households with other students who
are directly certified;
n connect with the homeless liaison/school
counselor to identify any students who are
homeless or have come into foster care; and
n partner with community organizations to
perform SNAP outreach to families within the
school district.
13
Food Research & Action Center (2017). Community Eligibility
Continues to Grow in the 2016–2017 School Year. Available at
https://frac.org/wp-content/uploads/CEP-Report_Final_
Links_032317-1.pdf.
14
States may request a waiver to extend the deadline for setting ISPs
from USDA. While they may extend the deadline as far out as June
30, 2022, they may extend the deadline to any date on or before
June 30, 2022, as well. Contact your State agency to learn this
year’s deadlines for your state.
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n June 2022 10
14 states had less than 30 percent of their eligible low-
ISP schools adopting, with Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and
New Hampshire all with fewer than 10 percent of eligible
low-ISP schools adopting.
Student Enrollment
The reach of community eligibility is most evident in
the number of students impacted. In the 2021–2022
school year, 16.2 million students attend schools that
have adopted the Community Eligibility Provision; this
is up from 15.9 million in the 2020–2021 school year.
California and Texas have the most children attending
schools that are adopting community eligibility, with
approximately 2.2 million and 2.1 million in each state,
respectively. Nationally, more than 1 in 4 students
attending a school that is adopting community eligibility
lives in California or Texas.
Eighteen states have seen increases in the number
of students in community eligibility schools in the
2021–2022 school year. The states that saw the biggest
increases in the number of enrolled students are
Virginia and Alabama, having added over 127,000 and
nearly 121,000 students, respectively. Massachusetts,
Washington, and New York had significant increases
relative to other states as well, adding over 56,000,
nearly 37,000, and over 36,000, respectively.
Unfortunately, 31 states saw decreases in student
enrollment numbers in community eligibility schools
in the 2021–2022 school year. Twenty-four states saw
decreases of more than 1,000 students, and eight states
had decreases of more than 10,000 students. The
state that saw the most dramatic decrease was North
Carolina, which saw a decrease of more than 48,000
students, or 10.4 percent, from the 2020–2021 school
year. California, Texas, Arizona, and Nevada all had
significant decreases as well, with nearly 33,000, nearly
23,000, nearly 23,000, and nearly 22,000, respectively.
While some of these states saw schools fall out of
community eligibility, many attribute these losses to
overall drops in student enrollment statewide as a result
of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Community Eligibility:
A Key Strategy for Next School Year
In March 2020, Congress gave USDA nationwide
waiver authority to ensure meal access and support
child nutrition program operations during the pandemic.
USDA issued a series of school nutrition waivers that
granted schools various flexibilities, including oering
breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and suppers to all students
free of charge regardless of their family income. Over
the past two school years, these waivers have continued
in various forms, allowing schools to oer meals free of
charge to all students through the 2021–2022 school
year. However, USDA’s authority to grant these waivers
ends on June 30, 2022. Without Congressional action,
schools will return to pre-pandemic school nutrition
operations for the upcoming 2022–2023 school year.
The past two years have highlighted the success and
importance of oering healthy school meals to all
students free of charge. The waiver expiration may end
this reality for some schools, but community eligibility
oers many schools and school districts across the
country the opportunity to continue oering free meals
to all students. For schools with ISPs of 40 percent
or higher, community eligibility provides an excellent
opportunity to continue providing students free meals as
they have been since March 2020. For this reason, it has
never been more important for schools and districts to
consider adopting community eligibility for the upcoming
school year.
Many states have applied for waivers from USDA to
extend the annual community eligibility deadlines,
allowing schools and districts more time to calculate
their ISP and make considerations before adopting.
Eligible school districts can contact their State agencies
for this year’s deadlines and should consider community
eligibility in order to continue serving healthy meals to
all students free of charge in the upcoming school year
and beyond.
6,663
8,532
9,701
11,780
13,677
14,936
15,987
16,231
8–Year Trend in Student Enrollment in Schools
Participating in Community Eligibility
(in Thousands)
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Year
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n June 2022 11
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 authorized
demonstration projects to use Medicaid data for direct
certification. The statute requires that students be
enrolled in Medicaid and belong to a family whose
income, as defined by Medicaid, is below 133 percent of
the federal poverty level
17
in order to use Medicaid data
to directly certify a student to receive free school meals.
In 2016, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a
request for proposals for states to be included in a
demonstration project that allowed direct certification
for free and reduced-price school meals using Medicaid
income data.
Illinois, Kentucky, New York, and Pennsylvania are able
to directly certify children for free school meals based on
participation in Medicaid and an income test. Additional
states (California, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Iowa,
Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, Texas,
Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin)
are using Medicaid data and an income test to directly
certify children for free or reduced-price school meals.
18
In 2021, the USDA reopened their request for proposals
for states to be included in the Medicaid Direct
Certification Demonstration Project, approving eight
states to begin participating in the 2022–2023 school
year: Alabama, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota,
North Carolina, and South Carolina. Illinois was also
approved to add reduced-price direct certification
through Medicaid; as noted above, they have been using
Medicaid to directly certify students for free meals only.
States may also apply to begin participating in the
2023–2024 school year. The deadline to apply is
September 30, 2022. The Food Research & Action
Center encourages states to apply so they can benefit
from the demonstration project’s positive impact on
children, families, and schools. Learn more by reading
USDA’s Request for Proposals or reviewing FRAC’s
summary.
Making Investments in Community Eligibility
Medicaid Direct Certification
15
USDA Food and Nutrition Service (2022). USDA Community Eligibility Provision Characteristics Study, SY 2016–17. Available at: https://www.fns.
usda.gov/cn/usda-cep-characteristics-study-sy-2016-17#:~:text=This%20Community%20Eligibility%20Provision%20(CEP,about%20the%20
impact%20of%20CEP.
16
Food Research & Action Center (2019). School Meals are Essential for Student Health and Learning. Available at https://frac.org/wp-content/
uploads/School-Meals-are-Essential-Health-and-Learning_FNL.pdf.
17
As defined in section 673(2) of the Community Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2).
18
It is worth noting that if a child can be directly certified for free school meals through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families program, Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, foster care, Head Start, or through being migrant or
homeless, that certification always will take precedence over Medicaid direct certification.
In spring 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture
released a Community Eligibility Provision
Characteristics Study in the 2016–2017 school year. The
report found that many schools and districts participating
in community eligibility saw increased meal participation
and federal reimbursements, an increase in average
daily attendance, the elimination of unpaid school meal
fees, and reduced stigma for low-income students.
15
The report also found that the vast majority of districts,
76 percent, had implemented community eligibility
district-wide. The most often cited concerns among
eligible non-participating districts involved district-wide
ISPs and the financial viability of using the current
multiplier, with 51 percent of eligible non-participating
school districts reporting that increasing the 1.6 multiplier
would make community eligibility more appealing.
The report’s findings support the need for additional
investments to bolster the adoption rates of community
eligibility: increasing the multiplier that determines the
amount of federal reimbursement a school receives
from 1.6 to 2.5 for all schools and lowering the eligibility
threshold from 40 percent to 25 percent would help
eliminate financial barriers and make more high-need
schools eligible to participate. These investments would
make community eligibility a financially viable option
for more high-need schools and increase the number
of students experiencing the educational and health
benefits linked to healthy school meals for all.
16
As Congress considers ways to strengthen and improve
community eligibility, they should increase the multiplier,
lower the eligibility threshold, and create a statewide
community eligibility option in any legislative package
that moves forward with child nutrition provisions.
Read FRAC’s summary of the characteristics study
for a more detailed analysis, and review these fact
sheets to learn more about the expected impact of the
community eligibility investments described above in
each state.
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n June 2022 12
Conclusion
Community eligibility allows high-need schools and
districts to meet the nutritional needs of the many
students they serve. The option creates hunger-free
schools by ensuring that all students have access to the
nutritious school breakfasts and lunches needed to be
well-nourished and ready to learn, and it allows school
nutrition departments to use their limited resources to
provide nutritious and appealing meals by streamlining
administrative requirements.
As the nation recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic,
community eligibility oers an important opportunity
for schools to continue to serve nutritious breakfasts
and lunches at no charge to all students in high-need
schools. To increase the reach of community eligibility,
states and school districts must work together to ensure
that direct certification systems identify all students
so that a school’s identified student percentage
accurately reflects the need within the school. Outreach
and technical assistance by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, State agencies, and anti-hunger advocates
also will be critical as schools consider the social, health,
and financial benefits of community eligibility, with many
considering implementation for the first time in the
2022–2023 school year as a way to maintain access to
healthy school meals for all their students.
Additional Resources
n Direct Certification Improves Low-Income Student Access to School Meals: An Updated Guide to Direct
Certification
n School District Strategies for Improving Direct Certification
n CEP Financial Calculators (School districts and other stakeholders should use these tools to group schools
strategically and to maximize the federal funding received.)
n Community Eligibility: Making it Work With Lower ISPs
For more information and additional resources to help determine if community eligibility is a possibility for your
school district, go to FRAC’s Community Eligibility webpage.
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n June 2022 13
Technical Notes
The Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) obtained
information on schools that were approved to operate
under community eligibility in the 2021–2022 school
year from State education agencies or entities at the
state level that administer the federal school nutrition
programs. Between November 2021 and April 2022,
FRAC collected these data:
n school name;
n school district name;
n identified student percentage (ISP);
n participation in community eligibility as an individual
school, part of a group, or a whole district; and
n enrollment.
FRAC followed up with State education agencies for
data clarifications, and when necessary, to obtain
missing data. FRAC also gave agencies an opportunity
to review the data in the tables in this report before it
was published.
Under federal law, states are required to publish, by
May 1 of each year, a list of schools and districts with
ISPs of at least 40 percent and those with ISPs between
30 and just under 40 percent (near-eligible schools and
districts). For the 2021–2022 school year, this deadline
was extended by USDA to June 30, 2021, in order to
grant flexibility to State agencies during the COVID-19
pandemic. FRAC compared this published list to the
lists of approved schools, and compiled a universe
of eligible and approved schools and districts in the
2021–2022 school year. When compiling the universe
of eligible schools, FRAC treated a district as eligible if
it contained at least one eligible school. FRAC treated
a school as eligible if it appeared on a state’s published
list of eligible schools. In addition, schools that were
missing from a state’s list of eligible schools, but
appeared on its list of adopting schools were treated as
eligible.
Similar to last year, FRAC gave the states the option to
report both eligible and adopting schools in the fall data
collection. This gave states the opportunity to update
their eligible schools list to reflect any school closures
or consolidations. Sixteen states—Connecticut, District
of Columbia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan,
Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio,
Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia, and
Wyoming—chose to provide both eligible and adopting
schools for this analysis.
There are two circumstances under which a school
might be able to adopt community eligibility even if it
did not appear on a state’s list of eligible schools:
1. The U.S. Department of Agriculture permitted states
to base their May published lists on proxy data read-
ily available to them. Proxy data are merely an indi-
cator of potential eligibility, not the basis for eligibility.
Districts must submit more accurate information,
which may be more complete, more recent, or both,
when applying to adopt community eligibility.
2. A school can participate as a member of an adopting
group (part or all of a district). A group’s eligibility is
based on the ISP for the group as a whole.
The lists obtained from State education agencies
indicated whether schools have elected to adopt
community eligibility, the ISP the schools use to
determine the federal reimbursement for meals served,
and the total number of students attending each
adopting school.
USDA issued child nutrition waivers for the 2021–2022
school year that allowed school districts to operate
the Seamless Summer Option of the National School
Lunch Program, and that waived the area eligibility
requirement, thus allowing meals to be oered at
no charge to all students. With 90 percent of school
nutrition departments operating under this waiver,
most school districts and schools that were approved
to adopt community eligibility actually provided meals
during the 2021–2022 school year through the
Seamless Summer Option waivers.
The following states had schools that did not provide
student enrollment numbers:
n 17 schools in Alabama
n three schools in Alaska
n one school in Colorado
n one school in Idaho
n two schools in Kentucky
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n June 2022 14
n four schools in Louisiana
n 75 schools in Maine
n one school in Maryland
n one school in Montana
n one school in North Carolina
n two schools in Oregon
n three schools in Tennessee
Some states did not provide the identified student
percentage used by adopting community eligibility
schools to calculate federal reimbursements for meals
served, often referred to as the “claiming ISP” or
“grouped ISP.” For these schools, the ISPs are shown as
N/A in the database:
n 75 schools in Maine
n 17 schools in Texas
Some states reported schools’ free claiming
percentages (ISP multiplied by 1.6) as 100 percent, so it
is impossible to know the exact grouped ISP. It can be
determined that the school is participating in community
eligibility with an ISP of 62.5 percent or above. In these
cases, 62.5 percent was used in the database:
n 1,628 schools in California
n 218 schools in Connecticut
n 20 schools in Iowa
n 383 schools in Kentucky
n 229 schools in Missouri
n 10 schools in Nebraska
n 444 schools in North Carolina
n 403 schools in Ohio
n 709 schools in Pennsylvania
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n June 2022 15
State
Percentage
Adopting CEP of
Total Eligible
SY 2021–2022
Percentage
Adopting CEP
of Total Eligible
SY 2020–2021
Adopting CEP
SY 2021–2022
Adopting CEP
SY 2020–2021
Eligible
for CEP
SY 2021–2022
Eligible
for CEP
SY 2020–2021
TABLE 1: Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) Take-Up Rate in School Districts
for School Years (SY) 2020–2021
1
and 2021–2022
Alabama
2
83 55 66.3% 76 58 76.3%
Alaska 41 34 82.9% 43 33 76.7%
Arizona
3
263 184 70.0% 261 179 68.6%
Arkansas 171 75 43.9% 116 73 62.9%
California 903 380 42.1% 677 384 56.7%
Colorado 69 23 33.3% 71 24 33.8%
Connecticut 77 55 71.4% 57 54 94.7%
Delaware 23 19 82.6% 25 20 80.0%
District of Columbia 41 37 90.2% 43 42 97.7%
Florida 294 200 68.0% 316 203 64.2%
Georgia 131 107 81.7% 150 109 72.7%
Hawaii 12 11 91.7% 13 13 100.0%
Idaho
4
51 23 45.1% 30 23 76.7%
Illinois 706 290 41.1% 523 298 57.0%
Indiana 259 113 43.6% 278 113 40.6%
Iowa 115 22 19.1% 112 21 18.8%
Kansas 110 10 9.1% 78 4 5.1%
Kentucky 174 166 95.4% 172 166 96.5%
Louisiana 133 125 94.0% 129 123 95.3%
Maine 104 29 27.9% 49 28 57.1%
Maryland 22 16 72.7% 29 17 58.6%
Massachusetts 139 103 74.1% 156 99 63.5%
Michigan 720 405 56.3% 606 408 67.3%
Minnesota 158 69 43.7% 150 66 44.0%
Mississippi 161 75 46.6% 89 73 82.0%
Missouri 224 103 46.0% 156 104 66.7%
Montana 66 57 86.4% 65 53 81.5%
Nebraska 104 29 27.9% 115 22 19.1%
Nevada 25 21 84.0% 23 19 82.6%
New Hampshire 9 3 33.3% 5 0 0.0%
New Jersey 160 83 51.9% 137 79 57.7%
New Mexico 142 125 88.0% 139 121 87.1%
New York 588 465 79.1% 598 471 78.8%
North Carolina 141 104 73.8% 156 101 64.7%
CONTINUED
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n June 2022 16
TABLE 1: Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) Take-Up Rate in School Districts
for School Years (SY) 2020–2021
1
and 2021–2022
1
For the 2020–2021 school year data, school districts are defined as eligible if they include at least one school with an ISP of 40
percent or higher, or at least one school has already adopted community eligibility. For the 2021–2022 school year data, school
districts are defined as eligible if they include at least one school with an ISP of 40 percent or higher, or at least one school has
already adopted community eligibility.
2
Alabama's eligibility and participation data for the 2020–2021 school year has been updated by the State agency since the
publication of Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, 2020–2021. Data in this table reflects these changes.
3
Arizona's eligibility data for the 2020–2021 school year has been updated by the State agency since the publication of
Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, 2020–2021. Data in this table reflects these changes.
4
Idaho's eligibility data for the 2020–2021 school year has been updated by the State agency since the publication of
Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, 2020–2021. Data in this table reflects these changes.
State
Percentage
Adopting CEP of
Total Eligible
SY 2021–2022
Percentage
Adopting CEP
of Total Eligible
SY 2020–2021
Adopting CEP
SY 2021–2022
Adopting CEP
SY 2020–2021
Eligible
for CEP
SY 2021–2022
Eligible
for CEP
SY 2020–2021
North Dakota 26 23 88.5% 25 24 96.0%
Ohio 477 331 69.4% 421 343 81.5%
Oklahoma 188 109 58.0% 205 110 53.7%
Oregon 137 91 66.4% 206 88 42.7%
Pennsylvania 403 243 60.3% 329 248 75.4%
Rhode Island 22 9 40.9% 20 9 45.0%
South Carolina 80 61 76.3% 81 63 77.8%
South Dakota 46 29 63.0% 42 32 76.2%
Tennessee 190 97 51.1% 131 97 74.0%
Texas 911 489 53.7% 926 490 52.9%
Utah 15 14 93.3% 17 14 82.4%
Vermont 31 19 61.3% 28 18 64.3%
Virginia 132 98 74.2% 125 123 98.4%
Washington 160 100 62.5% 178 108 60.7%
West Virginia 55 54 98.2% 58 54 93.1%
Wisconsin 245 117 47.8% 243 114 46.9%
Wyoming 9 8 88.9% 8 7 87.5%
U.S. Total 9,546 5,508 57.7% 8,686 5,543 63.8%
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n June 2022 17
Percentage
Adopting CEP of
Total Eligible
SY 2021–2022
Percentage
Adopting CEP
of Total Eligible
SY 2020–2021
Adopting CEP
SY 2021–2022
Adopting CEP
SY 2020–2021
Eligible
for CEP
SY 2021–2022
Eligible
for CEP
SY 2020–2021
State
TABLE 2: Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) Take-Up Rate in Schools for
School Years (SY) 2020–2021
1
and 2021–2022
Alabama
2
698 454 65.0% 672 490 72.9%
Alaska 236 216 91.5% 240 208 86.7%
Arizona
3
707 500 70.7% 774 493 63.7%
Arkansas 463 255 55.1% 400 259 64.8%
California 5,936 3,777 63.6% 4,952 3,730 75.3%
Colorado 346 108 31.2% 429 100 23.3%
Connecticut 493 426 86.4% 434 420 96.8%
Delaware 123 116 94.3% 119 114 95.8%
District of Columbia 170 166 97.6% 184 183 99.5%
Florida 2,796 1,440 51.5% 2,955 1,462 49.5%
Georgia 948 819 86.4% 1,090 873 80.1%
Hawaii 113 80 70.8% 115 106 92.2%
Idaho
4
134 62 46.3% 84 64 76.2%
Illinois 2,766 1,693 61.2% 2,340 1,823 77.9%
Indiana 879 515 58.6% 957 506 52.9%
Iowa 378 177 46.8% 382 176 46.1%
Kansas 514 44 8.6% 223 31 13.9%
Kentucky 1,102 1,060 96.2% 1,107 1,061 95.8%
Louisiana 1,163 1,087 93.5% 1,145 1,095 95.6%
Maine 231 73 31.6% 104 75 72.1%
Maryland 387 364 94.1% 443 357 80.6%
Massachusetts 823 720 87.5% 818 718 87.8%
Michigan 2,218 1,466 66.1% 1,951 1,468 75.2%
Minnesota 312 153 49.0% 296 150 50.7%
Mississippi 689 390 56.6% 413 376 91.0%
Missouri 720 432 60.0% 552 433 78.4%
Montana 171 154 90.1% 166 147 88.6%
Nebraska 274 43 15.7% 368 45 12.2%
Nevada 433 399 92.1% 412 388 94.2%
New Hampshire 19 3 15.8% 13 0 0.0%
New Jersey 606 315 52.0% 528 319 60.4%
New Mexico 630 574 91.1% 612 556 90.8%
New York
5
3,890 3,633 93.4% 3,289 3,021 91.9%
North Carolina 1,218 955 78.4% 1,302 879 67.5%
CONTINUED
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n June 2022 18
1
For the 2020–2021 school year data, schools are defined as eligible if they have an ISP of 40 percent or higher, or if they
adopted community eligibility. For the 2021–2022 school year data, schools are defined as eligible if they have an ISP of
40 percent or higher, or if they adopted community eligibility.
2
Alabama's eligibility and participation data for the 2020–2021 school year has been updated by the State agency since the
publication of Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, 2020–2021. Data in this table reflects these changes.
3
Arizona's eligibility data for the 2020–2021 school year has been updated by the State agency since the publication of
Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, 2020–2021. Data in this table reflects these changes.
4
Idaho's eligibility data for the 2020–2021 school year has been updated by the State agency since the publication of
Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, 2020–2021. Data in this table reflects these changes.
5
New York’s decrease in school participation was driven by school consolidation in the school district New York City
Chancellor’s Oce, and did not cause a corresponding decrease in the number of children attending community
eligibility schools.
6
Oregon's participation data for the 2020–2021 school year has been updated by the State agency since the publication of
Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, 2020–2021. Data in this table reflects these changes.
State
Percentage
Adopting CEP of
Total Eligible
SY 2021–2022
Percentage
Adopting CEP
of Total Eligible
SY 2020–2021
Adopting CEP
SY 2021–2022
Adopting CEP
SY 2020–2021
Eligible
for CEP
SY 2021–2022
Eligible
for CEP
SY 2020–2021
North Dakota 42 37 88.1% 38 37 97.4%
Ohio 1,273 1,025 80.5% 1,205 1,062 88.1%
Oklahoma 483 306 63.4% 542 326 60.1%
Oregon
6
685 622 90.8% 904 588 65.0%
Pennsylvania 1,496 1,171 78.3% 1,212 1,172 96.7%
Rhode Island 91 61 67.0% 91 61 67.0%
South Carolina 617 531 86.1% 634 538 84.9%
South Dakota 134 102 76.1% 130 110 84.6%
Tennessee 1,528 831 54.4% 974 845 86.8%
Texas 5,666 3,700 65.3% 5,852 3,740 63.9%
Utah 58 54 93.1% 60 42 70.0%
Vermont 81 56 69.1% 76 59 77.6%
Virginia 1,210 782 64.6% 1,018 1,008 99.0%
Washington 639 394 61.7% 748 482 64.4%
West Virginia 598 558 93.3% 606 593 97.9%
Wisconsin 752 494 65.7% 820 498 60.7%
Wyoming 15 14 93.3% 14 13 92.9%
U.S. Total 47,954 33,407 69.7% 44,793 33,300 74.3%
TABLE 2: Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) Take-Up Rate in Schools
for
School Years (SY) 2020–2021
1
and 2021–2022
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n June 2022 19
State
Total
Adopting
Eligible:
40 – <50%
Adopting:
40 – <50%
Percentage
Adopting:
40 – <50%
Eligible:
50 – <60%
Adopting:
50 – <60%
Percentage
Adopting:
50 – <60%
Eligible:
60%+
Adopting:
60%+
Percentage
Adopting:
60%+
Alabama 490 232 54 23.3% 157 91 58.0% 388 345 88.9%
Alaska 208 53 37 69.8% 61 57 93.4% 126 114 90.5%
Arizona 493 277 100 36.1% 268 198 73.9% 228 194 85.1%
Arkansas 259 168 102 60.7% 129 98 76.0% 78 59 75.6%
California 3,730 1,025 364 35.5% 1,675 1,333 79.6% 2,252 2,033 90.3%
Colorado 100 225 28 12.4% 146 59 40.4% 58 13 22.4%
Connecticut 420 83 73 88.0% 123 119 96.7% 228 228 100.0%
Delaware 114 52 50 96.2% 56 55 98.2% 11 9 81.8%
District of Columbia 183 28 27 96.4% 40 40 100.0% 91 91 100.0%
Florida 1,462 380 65 17.1% 371 99 26.7% 2,204 1,298 58.9%
Georgia 873 227 93 41.0% 337 287 85.2% 526 493 93.7%
Hawaii 106 36 32 88.9% 19 17 89.5% 60 57 95.0%
Idaho 64 59 42 71.2% 13 12 92.3% 11 9 81.8%
Illinois 1,823 426 126 29.6% 434 295 68.0% 1,478 1,400 94.7%
Indiana 506 323 55 17.0% 285 175 61.4% 349 276 79.1%
Iowa 176 143 8 5.6% 149 92 61.7% 96 76 79.2%
Kansas 31 112 10 8.9% 70 20 28.6% 41 1 2.4%
Kentucky 1,061 129 103 79.8% 339 328 96.8% 639 630 98.6%
Louisiana 1,095 182 147 80.8% 383 369 96.3% 533 532 99.8%
Maine
2
75 — — —
Maryland 357 139 82 59.0% 105 90 85.7% 199 185 93.0%
Massachusetts 718 127 67 52.8% 164 140 85.4% 526 510 97.0%
Michigan 1,468 452 157 34.7% 476 346 72.7% 1,023 965 94.3%
Minnesota 150 86 23 26.7% 83 51 61.4% 123 72 58.5%
Mississippi 376 39 18 46.2% 68 56 82.4% 296 292 98.6%
Missouri 433 154 75 48.7% 138 112 81.2% 258 244 94.6%
Montana 147 53 39 73.6% 32 30 93.8% 72 69 95.8%
Nebraska 45 149 11 7.4% 85 14 16.5% 117 20 17.1%
Nevada 388 92 74 80.4% 92 88 95.7% 191 189 99.0%
New Hampshire 0 9 0 0.0% 4 0 0.0% 0 0 0.0%
New Jersey 319 204 65 31.9% 143 86 60.1% 180 167 92.8%
New Mexico 556 89 57 64.0% 341 321 94.1% 182 178 97.8%
New York 3,021 392 257 65.6% 310 261 84.2% 2,587 2,503 96.8%
TABLE 3: Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) Take-Up Rate by Schools’ Identified
Student Percentage (ISP) for School Year 2021–2022
1
Not
Reported
Not
Reported
Not
Reported
Not
Reported
Not
Reported
Not
Reported
CONTINUED
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n June 2022 20
North Carolina 879 332 97 29.2% 366 255 69.7% 584 507 86.8%
North Dakota 37 7 6 85.7% 9 9 100.0% 19 19 100.0%
Ohio 1,062 295 217 73.6% 272 231 84.9% 636 612 96.2%
Oklahoma 326 278 140 50.4% 170 132 77.6% 90 50 55.6%
Oregon 588 328 206 62.8% 225 136 60.4% 178 73 41.0%
Pennsylvania 1,172 113 99 87.6% 222 215 96.8% 877 858 97.8%
Rhode Island 61 26 5 19.2% 30 23 76.7% 35 33 94.3%
South Carolina 538 187 116 62.0% 235 214 91.1% 203 199 98.0%
South Dakota 110 39 22 56.4% 23 20 87.0% 68 68 100.0%
Tennessee 845 241 163 67.6% 585 556 95.0% 148 126 85.1%
Texas
3
3,740 1,260 345 27.4% 1,405 823 58.6% 3,022 2,390 79.1%
Utah 42 12 7 58.3% 25 19 76.0% 23 16 69.6%
Vermont 59 52 38 73.1% 14 13 92.9% 10 8 80.0%
Virginia 1,008 346 336 97.1% 437 437 100.0% 231 231 100.0%
Washington 482 316 151 47.8% 244 173 70.9% 187 157 84.0%
West Virginia 593 141 130 92.2% 181 179 98.9% 217 217 100.0%
Wisconsin 498 281 48 17.1% 188 125 66.5% 351 325 92.6%
Wyoming 13 3 2 66.7% 2 2 100.0% 9 9 100.0%
U.S. Total 33,300 10,402 4,569 43.9% 11,729 8,901 75.9% 22,039 19,150 86.9%
1
In addition to the states that did not report the identified student percentage (ISP) that community eligibility schools use
for federal reimbursements for all adopting schools, some states reported ISPs for adopting schools that are below the 40
percent eligibility threshold (one school in Arizona, 25 schools in D.C., one school in Idaho, two schools in Illinois, 47 schools
in Louisiana, one school in Massachusetts, four schools in Minnesota, 10 schools in Mississippi, two schools in Missouri, nine
schools in Montana, 37 schools in Nevada, one school in New Jersey, 20 schools in North Carolina, three schools in North
Dakota, two schools in Ohio, 173 schools in Oregon, nine schools in South Carolina, 165 schools in Texas, four schools in
Virginia, one school in Washington, 67 schools in West Virginia). These schools are not included in the total number of adopting
schools by each ISP category.
2
Maine did not report the identified student percentages that community eligibility schools use for claiming federal
reimbursements for meals served.
3
Texas did not report ISP data for 17 schools listed as participating in community eligibility for the 2021–2022 school year.
The data referenced in footnotes 1, 2, and 3 account for the dierence between the U.S. total number of adopting schools and
the total number of adopting schools by identified student percentage category.
State
Total
Adopting
Eligible:
40 – <50%
Adopting:
40 – <50%
Percentage
Adopting:
40 – <50%
Eligible:
50 – <60%
Adopting:
50 – <60%
Percentage
Adopting:
50 – <60%
Eligible:
60%+
Adopting:
60%+
Percentage
Adopting:
60%+
TABLE 3: Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) Take-Up Rate by Schools’ Identified
Student Percentage (ISP) for School Year 2021–2022
1
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n June 2022 21
Enrollment
SY 2020–
2021
Enrollment
SY 2021–
2022
TABLE 4: Student Enrollment for School Years (SY) 2014–2015,
1
2015–2016,
2,3
2016–2017,
4
2017–2018,
5
2018–2019,
6
2019–2020,
7
2020–2021,
8
and 2021–2022
9,1 0,1 1
State
Change SY
2020–2021
to SY
2021–2022
Enrollment
SY 2019–
2020
Enrollment
SY 2015–
2016
Enrollment
SY 2016–
2017
Enrollment
SY 2014–
2015
Enrollment
SY 2018–
2019
Enrollment
SY 2017–
2018
Alabama 180,789 196,802 195,853 208,748 208,929 208,068 101,387 222,189 120,802
Alaska 27,666 29,234 34,106 36,575 37,244 36,560 38,089 33,465 -4,624
Arizona 30,763 55,048 94,229 116,488 145,273 178,535 193,750 171,028 -22,722
Arkansas 791 20,060 55,605 71,475 80,732 91,510 104,128 103,678 -450
California 113,513 435,900 748,533 799,646 1,690,225 1,944,304 2,207,703 2,174,949 -32,754
Colorado 12,455 34,920 36,198 39,244 39,950 39,028 40,165 33,404 -6,761
Connecticut 66,524 105,547 110,322 118,067 151,552 175,155 208,824 206,444 -2,380
Delaware 46,096 50,837 56,306 58,154 62,920 61,047 61,156 58,917 -2,239
District of Columbia
47,013 51,524 56,143 58,085 62,424 61,909 65,025 62,651 -2,374
Florida 274,071 474,006 579,138 705,602 858,135 872,443 913,549 933,123 19,574
Georgia 354,038 420,383 467,411 472,296 490,319 510,532 494,963 524,495 29,532
Hawaii 2,640 4,650 20,150 28,750 28,994 27,747 33,120 48,964 15,844
Idaho 18,828 32,299 33,058 33,898 28,876 21,953 21,646 22,852 1,206
Illinois 552,751 672,831 685,101 725,241 731,062 762,195 804,574 793,894 -10,680
Indiana 96,604 117,187 127,405 136,855 172,969 224,192 247,399 241,398 -6,001
Iowa 32,103 46,021 50,589 53,880 67,192 81,424 83,660 83,234 -426
Kansas 5,992 19,641 22,661 25,722 26,338 26,038 13,563 10,912 -2,651
Kentucky 279,144 385,043 436,419 479,450 501,059 522,512 539,460 532,628 -6,832
Louisiana 146,141 217,496 341,492 455,318 399,190 493,727 523,957 518,791 -5,166
Maine 5,284 17,977 20,411 20,435 23,733 19,975 —
Maryland 7,624 94,496 99,484 103,814 106,218 102,788 171,613 173,972 2,359
Massachusetts 134,071 200,948 238,872 260,364 282,030 301,465 274,211 330,684 56,473
Michigan 266,249 275,579 273,071 287,801 418,447 466,540 544,806 541,554 -3,252
Minnesota 20,688 49,944 57,003 57,957 63,057 51,818 53,982 50,873 -3,109
Mississippi 136,095 148,781 151,815 147,677 164,297 145,097 162,110 158,523 -3,587
Missouri 106,126 111,319 121,962 134,996 139,884 143,692 142,542 142,654 112
Montana 15,802 21,161 23,290 26,180 24,777 21,741 22,340 20,656 -1,684
Nebraska 180 2,425 4,277 7,411 7,276 6,173 12,100 12,090 -10
Nevada 7,917 15,970 71,345 95,001 100,957 218,746 293,179 271,504 -21,675
New Hampshire 0 644 1,125 1,082 1,100 652 621 0 -621
New Jersey 99,840 107,277 127,108 140,199 153,533 144,312 143,586 143,264 -322
New Mexico 119,300 149,057 164,569 177,388 175,756 186,116 187,301 176,450 -10,851
New York 505,859 528,748 603,795 1,586,981 1,646,409 1,742,005 1,719,661 1,755,995 36,334
North Carolina 310,850 357,307 367,705 433,204 418,820 455,237 463,666 415,375 -48,291
North Dakota 5,284 5,661 5,698 6,039 6,525 7,424 9,420 9,420 0
Ohio 305,451 354,727 363,860 397,594 409,467 410,400 412,116 416,274 4,158
Not
Reported
CONTINUED
Not
Reported
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n June 2022 22
1
Data for the 2014–2015 school year are from TakeUpofCommunityEligibilityThisSchoolYear (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, February 2015).
2
Data for the 2015–2016 school year are from CommunityEligibilityAdoptionRisesforthe2015–2016SchoolYear,IncreasingAccesstoSchool Meals
(Food Research & Action Center and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, updated May 2016).
3
Community Eligibility Adoption Rises for the 2015–2016 School Year, Increasing Access to School Meals (Food Research & Action Center and Center
on Budget and Policy Priorities, updated May 2016) contains data on enrollment in community eligibility schools in Guam. Community Eligibility
Continues to Grow in the 2016–2017 School Year (Food Research & Action Center, March 2017) excludes Guam; therefore, the U.S. totals for the
2015–2016 school year have been adjusted.
4
Data for the 2016–2017 school year are from Community Eligibility Continues to Grow in the 2016–2017 School Year (Food Research & Action Center,
March 2017). Some schools did not provide student enrollment information for the 2016–2017 school year: one school in California, two schools in
Georgia, four schools in Idaho, three schools in Maine, 26 schools in Tennessee, and four schools in South Carolina.
5
Data for the 2017–2018 school year are from Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, School Year 2018–2019 (Food Research & Action
Center, May 2019). Some schools did not provide student enrollment information for the 2017–2018 school year: 12 schools in Alaska, 19 schools in
Louisiana, four schools in Mississippi, five schools in Oklahoma, one school in South Carolina, and two schools in Vermont.
6
Data for the 2018–2019 school year are from Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, School Year 2018–2019 (Food Research & Action
Center, May 2019). Some schools did not provide student enrollment information for the 2018–2019 school year: four schools in Hawaii, 182 schools in
Louisiana, 25 schools in Mississippi, 14 schools in South Carolina, and three schools in Utah.
7
Data for the 2019–2020 school year are from Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, School Year 2019–2020 (Food Research &
Action Center, May 2020). Some schools did not provide student enrollment information for the 2019–2020 school year: 19 schools in Alabama, 11
schools in California, four schools in the District of Columbia, five schools in Indiana, two schools in Louisiana, seven schools in Maine, two schools in
Massachusetts, 10 schools in Michigan, one school in Nevada, four schools in Oregon, 18 schools in South Carolina, one school in South Dakota, five
schools in Texas, and one school in Virginia.
8
Data for the 2020–2021 school year are from Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, School Year 2020–2021 (Food Research &
Action Center, June 2021). Some schools did not provide student enrollment information for the 2020–2021 school year: eight schools in Alabama,
43 schools in California, six schools in Florida, eight schools in Georgia, one school in Idaho, one school in Louisiana, 149 schools in Massachusetts,
two schools in Michigan, three schools in Missouri, one school in New Mexico, 115 schools in New York, four schools in South Carolina, five schools in
Tennessee, eight schools in Texas, one school in Washington.
9
Some schools did not provide student enrollment information for the 2021–2022 school year: 17 schools in Alabama, three schools in Alaska, one
school in Colorado, one school in Idaho, two schools in Kentucky, four schools in Louisiana, one school in Maryland, one school in Montana, one school
in North Carolina, two schools in Oregon, three schools in Tennessee.
10
Maine did not report student enrollment data for the 2020–2021 or 2021–2022 school years.
11
The total number of students enrolled in CEP schools for the 2020–2021 school year has been updated from the original publication of Community
Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, School Year 2020–2021 (Food Research & Action Center, June 2021) to reflect the revised data provided
by the Louisiana Department of Education.
Enrollment
SY 2020–
2021
Enrollment
SY 2021–
2022
TABLE 4: Student Enrollment for School Years (SY) 2014–2015,
1
2015–2016,
2,3
2016–2017,
4
2017–2018,
5
2018–2019,
6
2019–2020,
7
2020–2021,
8
and 2021–2022
9,1 0,1 1
State
Change SY
2020–2021
to SY
2021–2022
Enrollment
SY 2019–
2020
Enrollment
SY 2015–
2016
Enrollment
SY 2016–
2017
Enrollment
SY 2014–
2015
Enrollment
SY 2018–
2019
Enrollment
SY 2017–
2018
Oklahoma 43,433 66,323 104,162 148,994 152,695 154,078 99,447 123,293 23,846
Oregon 103,601 129,635 130,336 129,766 122,553 133,615 240,052 245,362 5,310
Pennsylvania 327,573 394,630 426,984 470,275 509,073 540,877 565,014 556,188 -8,826
Rhode Island 838 6,531 10,350 16,675 18,043 30,915 32,220 31,774 -446
South Carolina 111,453 173,364 201,587 235,711 249,036 255,006 265,027 254,439 -10,588
South Dakota 13,056 14,626 15,981 15,499 19,409 18,332 20,310 20,824 514
Tennessee 417,165 436,821 428,424 437,641 389,163 382,428 367,184 362,507 -4,677
Texas 941,262 1,015,384 984,976 1,184,559 1,566,088 1,873,513 2,111,019 2,088,076 -22,943
Utah 7,019 8,565 8,880 12,353 20,148 20,900 19,194 15,159 -4,035
Vermont 7,386 12,751 13,508 13,946 13,768 12,053 12,239 13,045 806
Virginia 42,911 99,404 119,051 156,687 204,610 241,056 385,041 512,500 127,459
Washington 53,369 69,432 75,357 95,514 110,815 126,278 158,518 195,397 36,879
West Virginia 124,978 145,057 177,875 195,075 208,960 209,566 212,362 225,803 13,441
Wisconsin 133,232 146,330 156,519 158,325 165,513 172,782 188,219 189,098 879
Wyoming 1,255 1,255 1,370 1,500 1,886 1,931 2,043 1,928 -115
U.S. Total 6,663,073 8,531,558 9,701,469 11,780,137 13,677,429 14,936,390 15,987,261 16,231,697 244,436
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n June 2022 23
TABLE 5: Number of Schools Adopting the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP)
for School Years (SY) 2014–2015,
1
2015–2016,
2
2016–2017,
3
2017–2018,
4
2018–
2019,
5
2019–2020,
6
2020–2021, and 2021–2022
7
Adopting
SY 2020–
2021
Adopting
SY 2021–
2022
State
Change SY
2020–2021
to SY
2021–2022
Adopting
SY 2019–
2020
Adopting
SY 2015–
2016
Adopting
SY 2016–
2017
Adopting
SY 2014–
2015
Adopting
SY 2018–
2019
Adopting
SY 2017–
2018
Alabama 347 392 391 425 444 445 454 490 36
Alaska 123 137 174 213 208 208 216 208 -8
Arizona 73 133 227 296 372 446 500 493 -7
Arkansas 4 57 139 178 201 229 255 259 4
California 208 651 1,070 1,311 2,833 3,275 3,777 3,730 -47
Colorado 34 82 91 101 105 105 108 100 -8
Connecticut 133 212 228 241 307 364 426 420 -6
District of Columbia
96 107 115 116 119 115 116 183 67
Delaware 95 108 117 116 212 116 166 114 -52
Florida 548 831 1,001 1,142 1,356 1,374 1,440 1,462 22
Georgia 589 700 768 787 818 834 819 873 54
Hawaii 6 25 43 65 69 68 80 106 26
Idaho 50 88 92 92 82 61 62 64 2
Illinois 1,041 1,322 1,363 1,499 1,541 1,588 1,693 1,823 130
Indiana 214 253 283 287 362 462 515 506 -9
Iowa 78 110 119 123 156 176 177 176 -1
Kansas 18 64 69 72 75 70 44 31 -13
Kentucky 611 804 888 948 984 1,028 1,060 1,061 1
Louisiana 335 484 741 968 1,016 1,029 1,087 1,095 8
Maine 21 59 72 71 87 73 73 75 2
Maryland 25 227 228 242 242 238 364 357 -7
Massachusetts 294 462 525 574 613 685 720 718 -2
Michigan 625 662 652 715 1,105 1,259 1,466 1,468 2
Minnesota 56 125 153 154 163 146 153 150 -3
Mississippi 257 298 333 342 410 337 390 376 -14
Missouri 298 330 367 402 420 427 432 433 1
Montana 93 127 138 158 157 150 154 147 -7
Nebraska 2 9 15 26 26 26 43 45 2
Nevada 13 36 122 153 167 316 399 388 -11
New Hampshire 0 2 3 3 4 3 3 0 -3
New Jersey 197 227 270 306 331 319 315 319 4
New Mexico 343 429 487 535 546 568 574 556 -18
New York 1,246 1,351 1,561 3,381 3,565 3,481 3,633 3,021 -612
North Carolina 648 752 787 914 882 941 955 879 -76
North Dakota 23 24 25 26 29 31 37 37 0
CONTINUED
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n June 2022 24
1
Data for the 2014–2015 school year are from TakeUpofCommunityEligibilityThisSchoolYear (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, February 2015).
2
Data for the 2015–2016 school year are from CommunityEligibilityAdoptionRisesforthe2015–2016SchoolYear,IncreasingAccesstoSchool Meals
(Food Research & Action Center and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, updated May 2016).
3
Data for the 2016–2017 school year are from Community Eligibility Continues to Grow in the 2016–2017 School Year (Food Research & Action Center,
March 2017).
4
Data for the 2017–2018 school year are from Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, School Year 2018–2019 (Food Research & Action
Center, May 2019).
5
Data for the 2018–2019 school year are from Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, School Year 2018–2019 (Food Research & Action
Center, May 2019).
6
Data for the 2019–2020 school year are from Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, School Year 2019–2020 (Food Research &
Action Center, May 2020).
7
See Table 2 for full notes on adopting schools in the 2020–2021 and 2021–2022 school years.
TABLE 5: Number of Schools Adopting the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP)
for School Years (SY) 2014–2015,
1
2015–2016,
2
2016–2017,
3
2017–2018,
4
2018–
2019,
5
2019–2020,
6
2020–2021, and 2021–2022
7
Adopting
SY 2020–
2021
Adopting
SY 2021–
2022
State
Change SY
2020–2021
to SY
2021–2022
Adopting
SY 2019–
2020
Adopting
SY 2015–
2016
Adopting
SY 2016–
2017
Adopting
SY 2014–
2015
Adopting
SY 2018–
2019
Adopting
SY 2017–
2018
Ohio 739 842 918 998 998 1,022 1,025 1,062 37
Oklahoma 100 184 301 413 427 408 306 326 20
Oregon 262 340 346 344 341 353 622 588 -34
Pennsylvania 646 795 861 959 1,031 1,112 1,171 1,172 1
Rhode Island 1 10 21 34 37 58 61 61 0
South Carolina 226 348 412 471 515 531 531 538 7
South Dakota 142 109 124 89 97 97 102 110 8
Tennessee 862 924 909 914 836 840 831 845 14
Texas 1,477 1,665 1,678 2,070 2,716 3,250 3,700 3,740 40
Utah 22 28 29 35 52 51 54 42 -12
Vermont 32 56 60 68 62 53 56 59 3
Virginia 87 206 255 341 428 511 782 1,008 226
Washington 122 172 193 232 273 314 394 482 88
West Virginia 369 428 492 518 540 545 558 593 35
Wisconsin 348 381 415 422 438 468 494 498 4
Wyoming 5 5 7 10 11 14 14 13 -1
U.S. Total 14,184 18,173 20,678 24,900 28,809 30,620 33,407 33,300 -107
FRAC n Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools n www.FRAC.org n twitter @fractweets 25
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