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New Brief from Mathematica Looks at Extent of Payment Errors in School Meal Programs
Contact: Cheryl Pedersen, (609) 275-2258
PRINCETON, N.J. (February 17, 2009)—Over the years, concern has mounted that many of the more than 26 million children certified to receive free or reduced-price meals may be ineligible for these benefits. A new issue brief from Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., looks at reducing payment errors in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP). Mathematica’s national study is the first effort to quantify the amounts and rates of improper payments in these programs.
The study looked at two types of certification errors: (1) household reporting errors, which occur when households misreport information on their applications, and (2) administrative errors, which occur when districts make mistakes in processing applications, determining eligibility, or recording certification status.
Key findings from the study include:
- For all students who applied for school meal benefits or were directly certified, about one in five were either incorrectly deemed eligible for the level of benefits they were approved for, or erroneously denied benefits.
- Among those certified in error, overcertification was about twice as likely as undercertification.
- For both the NSLP and SBP, about nine percent of total meal reimbursements were erroneous because of certification error.
- Misreporting by households of their circumstances was substantially more common than administrative errors by districts or schools.
The brief notes that reducing error rates and improving program performance are worthy goals for school meal programs. The study findings suggest that the following approaches for reducing errors and erroneous payments could be considered:
- Find ways to get more accurate and complete income data from households.
- Follow up on incomplete applications before making certification decisions.
- Consider eliminating the distinction between free and reduced-price meals, since 20 percent of errors involve a mismatch between free and reduced-price certification and eligibility.
- Improve accuracy of administrative functions related to certifying students and recording their status.
- Draw on income verification processes used by other means-tested federal programs.
“Although erroneous payments can and should be reduced,” said Michael Ponza, lead author of the brief and a senior fellow at Mathematica, “it is unlikely that they will be eliminated. Structural changes to school meal programs could have a large influence on running programs efficiently. But in making these changes, policymakers must also carefully assess effects on students to ensure that those who are eligible have access to nutritious food.”
“Who Picks Up the Tab? Reducing Payment Errors in School Nutrition Programs,” by Ponza, Philip Gleason, Lara Hulsey, and Quinn Moore, is available at www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/PDFs/nutrition/reducepayerrors09.pdf.
Mathematica®, a nonpartisan research firm, conducts high quality, objective policy research and surveys to improve public well-being. Its clients include federal and state governments, foundations, and private-sector and international organizations. The employee-owned company, with offices in Princeton, N.J., Washington, D.C., Cambridge, Mass., Ann Arbor, Mich., and Oakland, Calif., has conducted some of the most important studies of nutrition, health care, education, welfare, employment, and early childhood policies and programs in the United States.