ANALYSIS OF THE FIRST YEAR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COMMUNITY ELIGIBILITY PROVISION OF THE HEALTHY HUNGER-FREE KIDS ACT IN KANSAS

This study examines the implementation year of the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 within the state of Kansas. This examination will involve the impact of electing to use the Community Eligibility Provision on local educational authorities and food service departments, but will also examine local educational authority’s decisions not to participate in the Community Eligibility Provision despite being eligible to participate. We will use USDA data to determine if implementation results in Kansas mirrors that of earlier implementing states, and will use participation and financial data reported by local educational agencies to gage CEP impact. Our findings indicate that local educational agencies that elected to utilize the Community Eligibility Provision saw an average increase in breakfast participation of 6.5%, an average increase in lunch participation of 3.4%, and an average increase in daily state and federal reimbursement of 4% per meal. In Kansas, the greatest reason cited for electing to not participate the Community Eligibility Provision was concern over the potential loss of state At-Risk funding due to not having necessary individual household income information