Observations on the National School Lunch Program's Assessment, Improvement, and Monitoring System
Published: Sep 07, 1983. Publicly Released: Sep 07, 1983.
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Highlights
GAO conducted a survey to obtain information on the operation of the Food and Nutrition Service's (FNS) Assessment, Improvement, and Monitoring System (AIMS), which it implemented under interim regulations which established four standards to improve the management of the National School Lunch Program and ensure correct claims for federal program reimbursement. These standards provide that: (1) applications must be correctly approved or denied; (2) the number of meals claimed by each school must be no more than the number of children correctly approved in each school; (3) school recording systems must yield correct claims for reimbursement; and (4) meals must provide the required food components.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Food and Nutrition Service | The Administrator, FNS, should consider requiring states to take financial action against school food authorities that do not meet the first performance standard that applications for free and reduced-price meals must be correctly approved or denied, perhaps based on a sliding scale depending upon the extent to which the percent or number of invalid applications exceeds the tolerance set. |
Closed – Not Implemented
FNS has been analyzing data on the incidence of invalid applications for fiscal year (FY) 1988. Although it has indicated that it will consider options for implementing this recommendation, actual implementation is very uncertain.
|
| Food and Nutrition Service | The Administrator, FNS, should consider setting a lower tolerance for the National School Lunch Program's first performance standard, because the 10-percent tolerance seems high compared with error-rate tolerances established for the Food Stamp Program. |
Closed – Not Implemented
FNS has been analyzing data on the number of school food authorities exceeding the 10-percent tolerance for FY 1987. Based on these data, FNS was to examine the appropriateness of the 10-percent tolerance level. However, actual implementation is very uncertain.
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| Food and Nutrition Service | The Administrator, FNS, should reexamine the adequacy of the 25-percent requirement for follow-up reviews. |
Closed – Not Implemented
FNS stated that it lacks the resources to increase its level of review and, therefore, is not going to implement this recommendation.
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| Food and Nutrition Service | The Administrator, FNS, should consider requiring restitution from school food authorities that do not meet Assessment, Improvement, and Monitoring System standards on an initial review. |
Closed – Implemented
FNS supports the concept of assessing claims based on the severity and longevity of problems. As a result, FNS has begun requiring restitution for severe and longstanding problems in FY 1987.
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| Food and Nutrition Service | The Administrator, FNS, should require that efforts be made to develop better ways to judge whether meal counts are excessive. |
Closed – Not Implemented
FNS stated that it elected not to make this change because the current procedure is practicable and workable.
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| Food and Nutrition Service | The Administrator, FNS, should consider requiring states to test meal counts under the National School Lunch Program's third performance standard to provide a better degree of assurance that school food authority reimbursement claims are accurate. In addition, the Administrator should provide states additional guidance on what amount of restitution should be required when schools do not have, or use, an approved system for counting meals served. |
Closed – Implemented
FNS uses attendance and participation factors to compare schools claims and determine which schools should receive an AIMS review. This practice satisfies this recommendation.
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| Food and Nutrition Service | The Administrator, FNS, should require that the needed guidance for monitoring the requirement that minimum quantities of various types of food be served to qualify for federal reimbursement be developed and provided to the states as long as FNS regulations continue the requirement, and that compliance with the requirement be made a part of AIMS. |
Closed – Implemented
Draft guidance was prepared, but final guidance has been postponed indefinitely.
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| Food and Nutrition Service | The Administrator, FNS, should develop an additional AIMS standard for monitoring school food authority (SFA) compliance with the new program requirement that state agencies verify 3 percent or 3,000, whichever is less, of SFA-approved applications for free or reduced-price school meals. |
Closed – Implemented
Final regulations require SFA to verify 3 percent, or 3,000, whichever is less, of SFA approval applications for free or reduced price school meals. FNS is periodically monitoring SFA compliance with this regulatory requirement.
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