USDA proposes fines for schools not adhering to NSLP standards

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service has proposed a rule that would fine schools participating in federal nutrition programs for ignoring certain guidelines.

The USDA says the rule would improve the integrity of child nutrition programs, which includes the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, and the Summer Food Service Program. It added that officials came up with the proposal after conducting their own financial audits of state programs, which found millions of dollars in improper payments resulting from “certification error and meal counting and claiming errors.”

The proposed rule would permit the USDA to fine any school food authority or administrator of child nutrition programs who disregarded a requirement they had been made aware of; failed to correct severe mismanagement of any program; or failed to correct repeated violations of program requirements.

Operators and schools could be fined up to three times. The first fine would amount to 1 percent of the total the school was reimbursed for lunches; the second would equal up to 5 percent, and the final fine up to 10 percent.

The USDA anticipates that fines on schools would start to be levied one fiscal year after the final rule is published.

Schools could be either terminated or disqualified from participating in a child nutrition program should they not pay the fine. Specifically for those administering a Summer Food Service Program, those who are disqualified or terminated would be placed on a list that would be given to “states for use in approving or renewing service institutions’ applications” for the program, according to the proposed rule.

Schools would also be able to appeal the fines, termination and disqualification from or denial of participating in a nutrition program, according to the USDA. 

The new regulation will be available for public comment for the next 60 days.