After several weeks of attempts by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to clarify the audit guidelines on free and reduced-lunch, the N.C. Department of Public Instruction has provided a written directive on the matter. (For background on the controversy, go here, here, and here).
In the letter dated Nov. 3, Lynn Hoggard, section chief of Child Nutrition Services at NCDPI, says that audits of the F&R lunch program are statutorily limited to 3 percent. She explains the penalty for conducting a more extensive audit:
According to the regulations, program payments shall be withheld until the LEA [local education agency] takes corrective action satisfactory to the State Agency, or gives evidence that such corrective action will be taken, or until the State Agency terminates the grant ? The State Agency would also conduct additional administrative reviews of the district?s Child Nutrition Program to determine if the program is operating in compliance with other statutory requirements.
Hoggard also addressed the issue of ?scaring away? applicants by conducting a rigorous verification:
Any action taken by a LEA to reduce errors must not compromise access to school meals for students who qualify for them. The statutorily mandated verification sample size [3 percent] was derived in an attempt to balance the need to gradually reduce errors in the Child Nutrition Program while ensuring children receive the benefit of school meals to which they are entitled.
You can download the full version of the letter here.
