2014-2015 NSLP Data Released

January 23, 2015

~ CEP % Included for Participating Schools ~
~ Helpful Graphic Attached – How to Use NSLP File Data on New Form 471 ~

The PDE Bureau of Food and Nutrition has just released the raw National School Lunch Data that was submitted by schools to PDE in October 2014.  The spreadsheet is attached and soon will be posted to the PA E-rate website under the Discount Calculations tab or directly at: http://e-ratepa.org/?page_id=743.  This 2014 data is what schools and libraries will include on their Funding Year 2015 Form 471 in order to calculate their E-rate discounts for E-rate Funding Year 2015 (which begins July 1, 2015).

The NSLP spreadsheet contains several pieces of data that will assist schools as they complete the new Online 471.  Where the Block 4 asks for:

State LEA ID:  This the District’s AUN and is the bold number beside the District’s name on the spreadsheet.
State School ID:  This is the School’s Building Number and is beside the School’s name on the spreadsheet (usually with several 0s in front)
Number of Students Attending This School:  Use data in Column T (Enrollment)
Number of Students in School Eligible for NSLP:
– Schools NOT participating in CEP should use the NSLP Enrollment shown in Column W.
– School that ARE participating in CEP should select “CEP” under the Alternative Discount on Form 471 Block 4, and then enter the CEP % from Column Z (the Form 471 system won’t permit you to enter NSLP data if you select CEP as the Alternative Discount and will calculate NSLP eligibility automatically using the 1.6 multiplier).

Attached is a helpful graphic showing each of these items and where they can be found on the NSLP file.

A few very important notes:

1) When the SLD’s PIA staff reviews your applications, particularly your Block 4 discount calculations, they use this data.  If you have other data (such as from an income survey or more recent NSLP data), you may use it but you should expect a call from the PIA staff requesting thorough documentation to validate your figures.

2) This spreadsheet only contains buildings that have students participating in the NSLP program.  Your individual Form 471, Block 4′s must contain all of the buildings that are receiving E-rate discounted services, including your non-instructional facilities (NIFs), such as bus barns, administration buildings, etc.  And in order to list these buildings on the Block 4, they must have an E-rate entity number assigned to them. If they don’t, call the SLD at 888-203-8100 and obtain entity numbers for these NIFs. Then in Block 4, you will include these buildings, and indicate that that are NIFs in the appropriate column.

3) The new Form 471 doesn’t have the functionality to “Copy Block 4″ from a previous year like the old form did, so you will have to manually enter the entity numbers for each building.  After your new Form 471 is submitted, you can THEN copy Block 4 from the previously-submitted FY 2015 application.  The reason is that the new Form 471 is built on an entirely new technology platform which doesn’t have the capability to pull Block 4′s from the old platform.  Once you have a Block 4 submitted in the new platform, you’ll be able to copy it this year and in future years.

4) If you have any questions about your NSLP information, contact the Bureau of Food and Nutrition at 717-783-6558.

5) If you have any questions about calculating your E-rate discounts, please don’t hesitate to contact me at jtschell@comcast.net.
– Julie

Julie Tritt Schell

PA E-rate Coordinator

717-730-7133 – o
717-730-9060 – f
jtschell@comcast.net
www.e-ratepa.org

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