Comments on: Fraud in the Lunchroom? http://educationnext.org/fraud-in-the-lunchroom/ Education Next is a journal of opinion and research about education policy. Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:19:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Marie http://educationnext.org/fraud-in-the-lunchroom/comment-page-1/#comment-79198 Marie Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:34:24 +0000 http://educationnext.org/?p=49631358#comment-79198 This was a great artile and needs to make it out into the newspapers and TV so the average person will see it. It is FRAUD to the max. The original intentions of this program have gotten out of control. Bureaucrats are trying to justify one of the most abused departments in the country hiding under the guise of the Department of Agriculture. Ask the people working at the bottom in the school lunch rooms. Where does the snack money come from after the lunch is thrown in the garbage? How many of these are children of illegal immigrants. The first thing they ask for when they register are the lunch forms. Go wait outside a school in the morning and see who gets out of the cars for their free/reduced breakfast. See what new cars they’re driving and how their nails are done. This program is far more reaching than kids just getting free food. Check the state and school policies regarding the entitlements that students on free/reduced are getting. Did you know that if a student on free/reduced lunch can’t afford to go on a class trip the district has to pay? They get to take the SAT for free. The FAFSA asks if you are on Free or Reduced Price Lunch. We have to stop being politically correct because it is destroying this country. ENOUGH! This was a great artile and needs to make it out into the newspapers and TV so the average person will see it.
It is FRAUD to the max. The original intentions of this program have gotten out of control.
Bureaucrats are trying to justify one of the most abused departments in the country hiding under the guise of the Department of Agriculture.
Ask the people working at the bottom in the school lunch rooms. Where does the snack money come from after the lunch is thrown in the garbage? How many of these are children of illegal immigrants. The first thing they ask for when they register are the lunch forms.
Go wait outside a school in the morning and see who gets out of the cars for their free/reduced breakfast. See what new cars they’re driving and how their nails are done.
This program is far more reaching than kids just getting free food. Check the state and school policies regarding the entitlements that students on free/reduced are getting. Did you know that if a student on free/reduced lunch can’t afford to go on a class trip the district has to pay? They get to take the SAT for free. The FAFSA asks if you are on Free or Reduced Price Lunch.
We have to stop being politically correct because it is destroying this country. ENOUGH!

]]> By: anonymous http://educationnext.org/fraud-in-the-lunchroom/comment-page-1/#comment-78450 anonymous Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:55:09 +0000 http://educationnext.org/?p=49631358#comment-78450 With increased participation and revenue, our district's new Food Service Director throws FREE after-hours barbeques for ( 100 +) food service workers using school food. Isn't this fraud? The latest event was an after hours christmas party for workers and their guests in which the food service department provided turkey dinners and beverages to employees and their guests free of charge. Sounds like blatant misuse of entitlement funds to me not to mention the re-directed labor time to set up and prepare for this social event on the taxpayer's dime!. 7 CFR 210.14(a) restricts the use of nonprofit food service revenues to the operation or improvement of the nonprofit food service for children. To boot, staff was directed to bake up cookies, brownies etc. put them together as gift packs to be delivered to school principals, superintendents and other officials in the district office...a bribe or ?? With increased participation and revenue, our district’s new Food Service Director throws FREE after-hours barbeques for ( 100 +) food service workers using school food. Isn’t this fraud? The latest event was an after hours christmas party for workers and their guests in which the food service department provided turkey dinners and beverages to employees and their guests free of charge. Sounds like blatant misuse of entitlement funds to me not to mention the re-directed labor time to set up and prepare for this social event on the taxpayer’s dime!.
7 CFR 210.14(a) restricts the use of nonprofit food service revenues to the operation or improvement of the nonprofit food service for children.
To boot, staff was directed to bake up cookies, brownies etc. put them together as gift packs to be delivered to school principals, superintendents and other officials in the district office…a bribe or ??

]]> By: Doug http://educationnext.org/fraud-in-the-lunchroom/comment-page-1/#comment-75060 Doug Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:27:47 +0000 http://educationnext.org/?p=49631358#comment-75060 I'm not sure which image popped into my head first, Oliver Twist asking for "MORE"??? or Scrooge asking "Are there no workhouses" and just in time for Christmas as well. We must watch the poor they are robbing us blind (covers mouth whispers Wall Street). I’m not sure which image popped into my head first, Oliver Twist asking for “MORE”??? or Scrooge asking “Are there no workhouses” and just in time for Christmas as well.

We must watch the poor they are robbing us blind (covers mouth whispers Wall Street).

]]> By: Free Lunch, Cheap Internet - MY WTF BLOG | MY WTF BLOG http://educationnext.org/fraud-in-the-lunchroom/comment-page-1/#comment-73277 Free Lunch, Cheap Internet - MY WTF BLOG | MY WTF BLOG Wed, 09 Nov 2011 18:56:04 +0000 http://educationnext.org/?p=49631358#comment-73277 [...] So, what does it take to qualify for free lunch for your kids so you can get discounted internet?  The attached national wage scale outlines the requirements for free lunches.  But, here is the secret that is not well publicized: many school districts encourage parents to submit applications for free lunches even if they do not qualify since the districts also benefit from the number of applications submitted.  Then, the districts are only required to verify up to 3% of the applications for income qualification proof.  In the Los Angeles Unified School District, almost 90% of those who were asked for verification documents failed to return the required proof and were dropped from the system.  Yes, there is systematic fraud in the system as outlined in this article. [...] [...] So, what does it take to qualify for free lunch for your kids so you can get discounted internet?  The attached national wage scale outlines the requirements for free lunches.  But, here is the secret that is not well publicized: many school districts encourage parents to submit applications for free lunches even if they do not qualify since the districts also benefit from the number of applications submitted.  Then, the districts are only required to verify up to 3% of the applications for income qualification proof.  In the Los Angeles Unified School District, almost 90% of those who were asked for verification documents failed to return the required proof and were dropped from the system.  Yes, there is systematic fraud in the system as outlined in this article. [...]

]]> By: tricia hilliard http://educationnext.org/fraud-in-the-lunchroom/comment-page-1/#comment-69082 tricia hilliard Wed, 25 May 2011 05:51:19 +0000 http://educationnext.org/?p=49631358#comment-69082 I just want to ask where to go or call to report free lunch fraud. I just want to ask where to go or call to report free lunch fraud.

]]> By: The Audacidy of Budgets (part3) | Dear Clueless http://educationnext.org/fraud-in-the-lunchroom/comment-page-1/#comment-55040 The Audacidy of Budgets (part3) | Dear Clueless Mon, 07 Mar 2011 22:14:22 +0000 http://educationnext.org/?p=49631358#comment-55040 [...] Did you know – No proof of income, such as a pay stub or W-2 form, is required when parents apply for School Lunch and Breakfast programs? It was even sighted in an article posted on EducationNext. [...] [...] Did you know – No proof of income, such as a pay stub or W-2 form, is required when parents apply for School Lunch and Breakfast programs? It was even sighted in an article posted on EducationNext. [...]

]]> By: School lunch program scamFraud in the Lunchroom? « Evil of indifference http://educationnext.org/fraud-in-the-lunchroom/comment-page-1/#comment-50819 School lunch program scamFraud in the Lunchroom? « Evil of indifference Sun, 13 Feb 2011 14:24:54 +0000 http://educationnext.org/?p=49631358#comment-50819 [...] Fraud in the Lunchroom? “Fill it out and turn it in: that’s the message thousands of school districts send parents each year when they offer applications for the federal government’s National School Lunch Program (NSLP). And each year, millions of parents comply. But new data suggest that the process for verifying eligibility for the program is fundamentally broken and that taxpayers may be picking up the tab for participation by ineligible families. The NSLP, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) at an annual cost of $8 billion, serves 31 million American children each day. The program’s goal is to help low-income students succeed in public and private school classrooms by ensuring they have adequate nutrition, a mission that is compromised if substantial funds are being spent on ineligible families or the program fails to reach the neediest students.” Via Education Next.org [...] [...] Fraud in the Lunchroom? “Fill it out and turn it in: that’s the message thousands of school districts send parents each year when they offer applications for the federal government’s National School Lunch Program (NSLP). And each year, millions of parents comply. But new data suggest that the process for verifying eligibility for the program is fundamentally broken and that taxpayers may be picking up the tab for participation by ineligible families. The NSLP, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) at an annual cost of $8 billion, serves 31 million American children each day. The program’s goal is to help low-income students succeed in public and private school classrooms by ensuring they have adequate nutrition, a mission that is compromised if substantial funds are being spent on ineligible families or the program fails to reach the neediest students.” Via Education Next.org [...]

]]> By: Education Next http://educationnext.org/fraud-in-the-lunchroom/comment-page-1/#comment-5360 Education Next Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:25:01 +0000 http://educationnext.org/?p=49631358#comment-5360 The following was submitted as a letter to the editor: In “Fraud in the Lunchroom?,” David Bass presents evidence of substantial error in students’ eligibility for free or reduced-price school meals through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), citing a recent Mathematica study that found most errors result from misreporting of household income. The title of Mr. Bass’s article implies that these errors may be intentional. Our research suggests that fraud is not a major factor in explaining errors. Households that fail to respond to a district’s request for income verification are not necessarily engaging in fraud. We examined a randomly selected set of households that did not respond, finding that most were eligible for free or reduced-price meals. In the Access, Participation, Eligibility, and Certification (APEC) study, we found that, in more than 40 percent of household misreporting errors, parents overreported, rather than underreported, their income. If fraud were rampant, we would have expected much less of this type of error. Instead, we believe that most errors are unintentional: parents do not understand which household members should be included, forget about a minor income source, report net instead of gross income, or incorrectly enter the frequency of income receipt. Even if fraud is minimal, the resulting costs to taxpayers are substantial. How might policymakers respond? We caution against requiring income documentation from all applicants. As Mr. Bass notes, our research showed that a test of this approach not only failed to reduce benefit receipt for ineligible households, but also reduced benefit receipt for eligible households. A simple approach that could reduce error by one-third would eliminate the distinction between free and reduced-price benefits, since much program error results from misclassification. We could also build on current federal initiatives such as direct certification to improve NSLP certification accuracy. Under this policy, now required in all districts, households receiving benefits from other federal programs with more rigorous income-verification requirements are automatically eligible for NSLP. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is also considering using existing surveys to estimate the proportion of eligible children in selected schools, and then developing schoolwide reimbursement rates. This would eliminate the need for districts to certify households through the current process. Philip Gleason Senior Fellow Michael Ponza Senior Fellow Mathematica Policy Research An unabridged version of this letter appears here - http://educationnext.org/spring-2010-correspondence/#unabridged The following was submitted as a letter to the editor:

In “Fraud in the Lunchroom?,” David Bass presents evidence of substantial error in students’ eligibility for free or reduced-price school meals through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), citing a recent Mathematica study that found most errors result from misreporting of household income. The title of Mr. Bass’s article implies that these errors may be intentional.

Our research suggests that fraud is not a major factor in explaining errors. Households that fail to respond to a district’s request for income verification are not necessarily engaging in fraud. We examined a randomly selected set of households that did not respond, finding that most were eligible for free or reduced-price meals. In the Access, Participation, Eligibility, and Certification (APEC) study, we found that, in more than 40 percent of household misreporting errors, parents overreported, rather than underreported, their income. If fraud were rampant, we would have expected much less of this type of error. Instead, we believe that most errors are unintentional: parents do not understand which household members should be included, forget about a minor income source, report net instead of gross income, or incorrectly enter the frequency of income receipt.

Even if fraud is minimal, the resulting costs to taxpayers are substantial. How might policymakers respond? We caution against requiring income documentation from all applicants. As Mr. Bass notes, our research showed that a test of this approach not only failed to reduce benefit receipt for ineligible households, but also reduced benefit receipt for eligible households.

A simple approach that could reduce error by one-third would eliminate the distinction between free and reduced-price benefits, since much program error results from misclassification. We could also build on current federal initiatives such as direct certification to improve NSLP certification accuracy. Under this policy, now required in all districts, households receiving benefits from other federal programs with more rigorous income-verification requirements are automatically eligible for NSLP. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is also considering using existing surveys to estimate the proportion of eligible children in selected schools, and then developing schoolwide reimbursement rates. This would eliminate the need for districts to certify households through the current process.

Philip Gleason
Senior Fellow
Michael Ponza
Senior Fellow
Mathematica Policy Research

An unabridged version of this letter appears here – http://educationnext.org/spring-2010-correspondence/#unabridged

]]> By: Ed is Watching » How Much Can We Trust Poverty Numbers in School Lunch Program? http://educationnext.org/fraud-in-the-lunchroom/comment-page-1/#comment-1422 Ed is Watching » How Much Can We Trust Poverty Numbers in School Lunch Program? Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:17:11 +0000 http://educationnext.org/?p=49631358#comment-1422 [...] is genuine. But at the same time, it reminded me of an Education Next story I read recently about possible fraud in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). With the loose guidelines in verifying poverty eligibility, how much can we trust these [...] [...] is genuine. But at the same time, it reminded me of an Education Next story I read recently about possible fraud in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). With the loose guidelines in verifying poverty eligibility, how much can we trust these [...]

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