Massachusetts provides free meals to schools participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP). If your school is interested in participating in these programs and offering free meals to students, check your eligibility and review the readiness checklist for a basic understanding of the program(s).
Schools eligible to operate the National School Lunch Program NSLP and School Breakfast Program SBP in Massachusetts can be found on Department of Elementary and Secondary Education DESE's School and District Profiles page. Massachusetts General Law Chapter 69 Section 1C requires all schools providing the National School Lunch Program NSLP to also provide the School Breakfast Program SBP, ensuring students have robust access to healthy school meals.
To receive federal funds, all school districts must have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number. If your school does not have one, you can obtain one using System for Award Management SAM.gov . Food and Nutrition Programs FNP recommends signing up and getting a Unique Entity Identifier UEI and not registering a Unique Entity Identifier UEI. Registered Unique Entity Identifiers UEIs are not a requirement for the program and registration must be renewed every year.
School districts can participate as a direct sponsor of the program or as a site under an existing sponsor.
Becoming a site under an existing sponsor reduces administrative burden for an individual school, especially those with limited administrative capacity. Sites maintain operational responsibilities and leave administrative oversight to the sponsor. However, this requires upfront work on the school to determine a sponsor, often a local or surrounding public school district. Schools seeking to become a site under an existing sponsor should check with these districts individually to see if they are able to accommodate the school as a site under the current district's National School Lunch Program NSLP agreement.
Sponsors are responsible for all aspects of program operations and administration. Schools that decide to become a sponsor must have robust administrative capacity and employ a qualified school nutrition professional to oversee the program. To see if your school is ready, review the National School Lunch Program NSLP/School Breakfast Program SBP Readiness Checklist below. Schools must demonstrate proficiency in all areas to have a successful program.
Use the following checklist to assess your preparedness to operate National School Lunch Program NSLP & School Breakfast Program SBP. This checklist should be completed prior to formally applying to become a sponsor. If you have any questions or concerns about this process, reach out to the Office for Food and Nutrition Programs at 781-338-6460 or nutrition@mass.gov .
Schools participating in National School Lunch Program NSLP/School Breakfast Program SBP must follow the United States Department of Agriculture USDA professional standards for all school nutrition employees, including food service directors. It is important to ensure the school sponsor of the National School Lunch Program NSLP has a dedicated professional responsible for the administration and operation of the National School Lunch Program NSLP. Evidence of a qualified food service director/manager should be found in their resume, transcripts, and/or credentialing certificates.
Schools must demonstrate that their meal service complies with the United States Department of Agriculture USDA meal patterns to be eligible for reimbursement. Schools can use United States Department of Agriculture USDA certification worksheets or commercially available certification tools from an approved vendor. To better understand the meal patterns and how to stay in compliance, review the resources below.
Meal Pattern Resources:
Meal Pattern Compliance Resources:
Components needed to document menu compliance:
Even though all National School Lunch Program NSLP/School Breakfast Program SBP participating schools in Massachusetts serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to their students, schools must collect free and reduced price eligibility information for all students. These data are used to assist the state in the funding of these meals by maximizing the federal contribution of every meal served. These data also serve the school by identifying areas of economic hardship in communities. Schools that meet these thresholds qualify for additional child nutrition programs that can help communities provide meals for children in childcare settings and for students when school is out. These programs work together in communities to reduce food insecurity for families with children. These data can also help individual students and their families qualify for Sun Bucks , which provides money for groceries during the summer months.
Schools must build systems that collect, track, verify, and maintain free and reduced price eligibility and provide safeguards that ensure student privacy in this process. This process will be disclosed to Department of Elementary and Secondary Education DESE annually by the school's Free and Reduced Price Policy (template is available in Department of Elementary and Secondary Education DESE's password protected security portal). Methods to collect free and reduced price eligibility are as follows:
Free and Reduced Price Eligibility Direct Certification: Virtual Gateway
Most student eligibility will be obtained through this process. Register your organization with the Virtual Gateway using the New Organization Registration Form .
Identify access administrators and authorized representatives:
Once your organization is registered, the access administrator needs to request school nutrition program user access for members of your organization using the User Request Forms . These users will be responsible for uploading files and matching students for free and reduced price eligibility.
Scroll down to School Nutrition Program (SNP) User Request Form to access the correct form. Please be sure to follow the instructions and fill out the form completely. Incomplete or incorrect forms cannot be processed and will cause delays.
Free and Reduced Price Eligibility Collection Resources:
Free and Reduced Price Eligibility records should include:
Schools participating in the National School Lunch Program NSLP must develop meal counting systems that allow for meal counts by student eligibility status to be taken at the point of service, all while not overtly identifying student eligibility. These systems must also be able to consolidate meal counts into daily and monthly totals of free eligible, reduced price eligible, and paid eligible breakfasts and lunches. These systems must have the ability to conduct edit checks to ensure program integrity for all meal service models and locations.
Meal Counting Resources:
Meal counting records should include:
Whether a school prepares meals on site or utilizes a vendor to provide prepackaged meals, schools must ensure school meals are safe for their students. To ensure food safety, schools must develop a food safety plan that is specific to the type of food service operation they employ, and they must enumerate standard operating procedures (SOPs) for food safety utilizing Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles. Schools must notify the local Board of Health, obtain the proper food permits, and initiate biannual on site food safety inspections.
Food safety resources:
Food safety records should include:
Schools participating in the National School Lunch Program NSLP and the School Breakfast Program SBP are required to have a wellness committee and develop a Local Wellness Policy which includes specific goals, language on public involvement, policy assessment, and implementation.
School wellness policy resources:
Wellness policy records should include:
Schools participating in the National School Lunch Program NSLP must maintain sound financial practices to ensure program integrity. This includes maintaining a separate revolving account for school lunch revenues and expenses, pricing a la carte items (second meals, adult sales, and other items) to ensure federal resources are supporting the reimbursable meal program, and developing a meal charging policy to minimize student meal debt. Schools must also develop a budget for the food service operation that will demonstrate financial viability of the program. School meals are reimbursed based on an annual set amount per meal. Schools must ensure they are able to sustain the program when expenses exceed the federal and state funding sources.
Financial Management resources:
Financial Management Records should include:
Participating National School Lunch Program NSLP schools must adhere to procurement standards in compliance with federal requirements, as defined by law . Adherence to these principles ensures full and open competition. Schools must also comply with Buy American requirements for agricultural commodities and food products to support American farmers and local agricultural businesses. Public school districts must also comply with Massachusetts procurement standards for municipalities .
Procurement Resources:
Procurement records should include:
Successful National School Lunch Program NSLP schools hire qualified staff and provide periodic training and skill building to ensure their programs are delivering high quality for their students. United States Department of Agriculture USDA requires schools to track the professional standards training to ensure program integrity.
Professional Standards Tracking Resources:
Professional Standards Records should include:
Schools receiving Child Nutrition Program federal funding must develop safeguards to ensure compliance with all nondiscrimination laws, regulations, instructions, policies, and guidelines. These safeguards include civil rights training, public notification, and procedures to process civil rights complaints. Examples include providing meaningful access to language assistance for limited English proficiency populations and providing meal modifications for students with disabilities.
Civil Rights Compliance Resources:
Civil Right Compliance records should include:
Schools must ensure program integrity by retaining documentation substantiating reimbursement claims and all other aspects of their program agreement. These records must be maintained for a minimum of 3 years after submission of the final claim for reimbursement for the fiscal year or, if audit findings have not been resolved, the records shall be retained beyond the 3-year period as long as required for the resolution of the issues raised by the audit.
Recordkeeping resources:
Once you have completed this checklist, you can then apply to be a sponsor.
Last Updated: October 26, 2026