SR 13-29 Dated 07/13

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

INTER-DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATION

SUMMARY

This SR releases the elimination of the need to obtain parental consent to share information with the NH Department of Education (DOE) about the household's school age children's eligibility for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), as previously released in DFA SR 09-24, dated July 14, 2009. The USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has indicated that under federal law and regulations, DHHS is mandated to share this information with the DOE and may not ask households whether or not they wish to share this information with the DOE. If the parent does not wish to have their NSLP-eligible children participate in the NSLP, the parent may notify their local school district.

To support this change, revisions were also made to DFA Form 811S, Application: Statements of Understanding, and its associated Nepali and Spanish translations, DFA Form 811S(Ne) and DFA Form 811S(Sp).

POLICY

Data about National School Lunch Program-eligible children from Food Stamp and/or FANF households must be automatically shared with the DOE. DHHS no longer offers parents the option of choosing not to share this information.

NEW HEIGHTS SYSTEMS PROCEDURES AND DISTRICT OFFICE IMPLEMENTATION

New HEIGHTS is unable to remove the NSLP-consent question from the eligibility interview summary (EIS) screen until October due to conflicting demands related to the imminent implementation of Care Management and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid-related changes. However, to immediately support the change in policy described in this SR, New HEIGHTS will:

�   Flip the household's answer to "yes" for all current open/pending NSLP-eligible families who have answered "No" to the NSLP-related consent question on the EIS screen, the evening of July 11, 2013.

�   Following the July 11th conversion, run a monthly conversion just prior to the monthly NSLP-eligibility information sharing with the DOE, to flip any household's answer to "yes" for any NSLP consent questions that have been answered no since the last conversion. This will ensure data sharing with the DOE until the final changes can be made in October.

IMPORTANT INTERIM DIRECTIONS FOR DISTRICT OFFICE STAFF:

�   The following question will still display as a "required" question in New HEIGHTS for all NSLP-eligible Food Stamp and FANF households: May the Department share your Family Cash or Food Stamp information with the Department of Education for enrollment in the National School Lunch Program? District Office staff should not ask households this question.

�   Instead, District Office staff should merely choose "Yes" in answer to this question, and then move on with the interview without asking for the family's consent.

Because the question cannot be removed from the EIS for a few months, the following statement will continue to display on the EIS when printed at the end of the interview.

You told us you (want/do not want) your eligibility information to be shared with the Department of Education in order to enroll your child(ren) in the National School Lunch Program.

If District Office staff do not follow the instructions above and enter no to the NSLP-consent question, the information on the EIS will be incorrect because the information will be shared with the DOE. An answer of yes will ensure that the information presented on the EIS is mostly correct as the family will be alerted that this information will be shared with the DOE, even if the family did not tell us to do this.

In October, New HEIGHTS will:

�   Eliminate the NSLP-consent question from the EIS.

�   Replace the former text that was populated on the EIS printout for households containing NSLP-children, with the following message:

We are federally mandated to share your eligibility information with the Department of Education in order to enroll your child(ren) in the National School Lunch Program. This means you will not have to complete an additional application for your children to get free meals at their school.

�   Update the DFA Form 811S portion of the EIS with the new text additions described in this SR.

When these changes are complete, New HEIGHTS will alert staff under separate cover.

DESCRIPTION OF REVISIONS MADE TO FORMS

DFA Form 811S, Application: Statements of Understanding, was revised to add the following statement under the "All Programs" header on the first page to support the changes described in this SR:

I understand that despite other rules of confidentiality, names of children in Food Stamp and/or FANF households are required to be released to schools so that they may be determined automatically eligible for Free School Meals.

Additionally, in an unrelated change, the following statement was added under the "Cash & Food Stamps Program" header to clarify that when a cash case closes, the case does not receive a cash grant during the semi-monthly payment period in which the assistance group is not eligible for the entire payment period:

I understand that to get a cash payment from any DFA program, I must be eligible to get that cash every day of the entire payment period. If I am not eligible for cash at any time during that payment period, I understand that a cash payment will not be issued to me.

This policy has been in place since June 1, 1992, via SR 92-13, as described in policy at AAM 135, ADVANCE NOTICE PERIOD (ANP) and FAM 141, ADVANCE NOTICE PERIOD (ANP), but due to the recent confusion about the topic, text has been added to the DFA Form 811S to ensure clients clearly understand this policy.

The new version of DFA Form 811S will be printed once the current supply has been exhausted. Similarly, as this form is also part of DFA Form 800, Application for Assistance, the new version of DFA Form 811S will be also be printed with DFA Form 800 at that form's next reprint. The Nepali and Spanish versions of DFA Form 811S are currently being retranslated to incorporate the changes released in this SR and will be released under separate cover. Since there are no changes associated with the use of this form, the instructions did not require revisions and will not be re-released with this SR. DFA Form 811S can be ordered using current forms reordering procedures, via the Quarterly Forms Order (QFO). The forms are also available electronically, for Department staff only, on the Lotus Notes Family Services Database.

POLICY MANUAL REVISIONS

Revised Adult Assistance Manual Topics

SRs Retained

Revised Family Assistance Manual Topics

SRs Retained

Revised Food Stamp Manual Topics

SRs Retained

IMPLEMENTATION

New HEIGHTS will implement the changes released in this SR beginning the evening of July 11, 2013. In October, New HEIGHTS will release final changes under separate cover.

District Office staff must deplete the old English, Spanish, and Nepali versions of DFA Form 811S before the new version is printed. Once the current supply of the English version of DFA Form 811S is exhausted, the new version will be available from the DHHS warehouse in the usual manner, via the Quarterly Forms Order (QFO). The Spanish and Nepali versions may be reordered by contacting the Policy Unit Supervisor directly. The forms are also available electronically, for Department staff only, on the Lotus Notes Family Services Database.

CLIENT NOTIFICATION

On July 11, 2013, DFA State Office generated a mailing to the approximately 5,730 Food Stamp and/or FANF cases who answered "No" to the following question on the EIS: May the Department share your Family Cash or Food Stamp information with the Department of Education for enrollment in the National School Lunch Program? The letter informs the households that DHHS is now required to share this information with the DOE. A copy of the letter is attached to this SR for reference.

TRAINING

No special training is planned.

FORMS MANUAL POSTING INSTRUCTIONS

DISPOSITION

This SR may be destroyed or deleted after its contents have been noted and the SR has been posted to the On-line manuals.

DISTRIBUTION

This SR will be distributed according to the electronic distribution list for Division of Family Assistance policy releases. This SR, and revised On-Line Manuals, will be available for agency staff in the On-Line Manual Library, and for public access on the Internet at www.dhhs.nh.gov/DFA/publications.htm, effective July 29, 2013. Additionally, this SR, and printed pages with posting instructions, will be distributed under separate cover to all internal hard copy holders of the Adult Assistance, Family Assistance, Food Stamp, and Forms manuals.

DFA/JBV:s