Appendix G.4 Brochure

Appendix G.4
Brochure

 SMO

School Meals Operations Study

OMB Clearance Number: 0584-0607
Expiration date: XX/XX/20XX

About the Study
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service’s (FNS) Child Nutrition (CN)
Programs help ensure that children have access to safe, nutritious foods year-round. To inform current
and future policy decisions and manage these Programs effectively, FNS requires information on how
they are operating.
FNS contracted with Mathematica to conduct the School Meals Operations (SMO) Study through
school year (SY) 2023-2024. The first collection for this important study occurred in spring 2021. Like
that collection, the second and third collections (SMO II and SMO III) of the SMO Study will gather
information from States on statutory reporting requirements for the nationwide CN COVID-19 waivers,
which were authorized for use in the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program,
Seamless Summer Option, Summer Food Service
Program, and Child and Adult Care Food Program.
The State Agency Director will be asked
The SMO Study is the required reporting tool for
to complete:
the nationwide CN COVID-19 waivers, and States’
Web surveys. The Fall 2021 survey will gather
full participation in SMO will ensure they satisfy
information on reporting requirements for nationthe reporting requirements for these waivers.
wide CN COVID-19 waivers used in SY 2020-2021,
SMO II will also gather information from school
changes in the use of waivers extended through SY
food authorities (SFAs) on program operations
2020-2021, and program administration challenges
during COVID-19 and the financial impacts of the
during SY 2020-2021. The Summer 2022 survey
pandemic on SFAs.
gathers information on reporting requirements for

Participating in the Study
SMO II will begin in fall 2021, and SMO III will
begin in summer 2022. Based on State agency
feedback, the SMO team has taken steps to streamline the SMO II and SMO III State agency surveys
to reduce burden. The Families First Coronavirus
Response Act (FFCRA) (PL 116-127) requires any
State Agency (SA) that elects to use a CN nationwide waiver to submit a report not later than 1 year
after electing to use the waiver that, at a minimum,
summarizes the use of such waiver and describes
how the waiver resulted in improved services to
program participants. The 67 SAs that administer
the Federal CN Programs in the 50 States, District
of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin
Islands are required to participate in this collection. SMO II also includes a nationally representative sample of SFAs. Cooperation by States and
districts is required under Section 28 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act.

nationwide waivers used in SY 2021-2022.

Administrative data requests. The study team will
request disaggregated FNS-10, FNS-418, and FNS-44
administrative data in Spring 2022 for fiscal year 2021
and in Spring 2023 for fiscal year 2022 to collect
information on school and site participation, as well
as children’s program participation. These data will
address, in part, the statutory reporting requirement
regarding use of the COVID-19 CN waivers.

The SFA Director will be asked to complete:
A web survey. The Winter 2021/2022 SFA survey will
gather information on program operations during
SYs 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 and the financial
impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on SFAs. This is
the only collection from SFAs.
To minimize the time needed to complete each
survey, the surveys focus only on questions that
cannot be answered using the administrative data.

Protecting Privacy
We will group responses with those of other study participants so the data will not identify individual
SFAs or schools. Some of the information gathered may be presented by State. Each respondent’s
personally identifiable information will be kept private to the full extent allowed by law.
No individual student data are being collected.

Disseminating the Findings
FNS will consider the most effective ways to disseminate the study’s finding to a broad audience and
expects to release findings in 2023.

About the SMO Research Team
Mathematica is among the nation’s leading research companies. The team has over 50 years of experience
in conducting research for government agencies and studying child nutrition programs.

For More Information
Rachel Frisk
Project Director
Mathematica
SMOStudy@mathematica-mpr.com
(833) 440-9475

Holly Figueroa
FNS Project Officer
Food and Nutrition Services
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Holly.Figueroa@usda.gov
(703) 305-2105

The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is collecting this information to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected school food
authority (SFA) operations and finances and to satisfy State agencies’ congressionally mandated reporting requirements for the
COVID-19 nationwide waivers pursuant to section 2202 of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (P.L. 116-127). This is a mandatory
collection for State agencies and SFAs. FNS will use the information to assess how the waivers improved services to children and to
inform FNS’s planning, policy, and guidance related to state and local meal service operations. Because the personally identifiable
information (PII) requested under this collection will not be used to retrieve survey records or data, requirements of the Privacy Act of
1974 do not apply. Responses will be kept private to the extent provided by law and FNS regulations. According to the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information
unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0584-0607. The time
required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 3 minutes (.0501 hours) per response, including the time for
reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the
collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including
suggestions for reducing this burden, to: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, Office of Policy Support, 1320
Braddock Place, 5th floor, Alexandria, VA 22314, ATTN: PRA (0584-0607). Do not return the completed form to this address.