Nutrition Services Vision Statement
Nutrition Services provides leadership that inspires service of nutritious meals to children, students and adults.
Nutrition Services References
Supply Chain Assistance (SCA) Funds
The USDA has approved federal funding for supply chain assistance for operators of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) in response to the unprecedented challenges in purchasing and receiving food. These resources will be referred to as Supply Chain Assistance (SCA) funds. SCA funds can be used exclusively to purchase unprocessed or minimally processed domestic food products to help SFAs deal with challenges, such as unanticipated cancellation of food and supply contracts, reduced availability of certain foods, unexpected substitution of certain products, unpredictable increases in food and supply prices, and other obstacles related to pricing and/or availability that have been reported to or identified by state agencies administering the Child Nutrition Programs. As these challenges are both extensive and widespread, the SCA funds are targeted to provide a rapid and direct response to affected school districts.
- Recorded SCA Webinar- February 23, 2022 https://youtu.be/ddwwHYz3Jmc
- SCA Webinar Slides
- SCA Frequently Asked Questions
Nebraska Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT)
Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) is part of the U.S. government response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act of 2020 (PL 116–127), as amended by the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act (PL 116-159), provides the Secretary of Agriculture authority to approve state agency plans to administer P-EBT. Based on updated USDA guidance, the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) have teamed up to simplify the administration and distribution of P-EBT funds.
USDA has provided final approval for Nebraska’s 2021-2022 P-EBT plan. The eligibility requirements include each school building needing to individually qualify for 21-22 P-EBT benefits. For a school to qualify, at least one enrolled student must experience a five consecutive day COVID-related physical absence from the school building at any point during the 21-22 school year.
Once the school building has qualified, students enrolled at that school will qualify for benefits if they meet two requirements:
- Qualify for free or reduced-priced meals by the submission of an income application or direct certification during the 21-22 school year; AND
- Experience a COVID-related absence for any period even if less than five days.
Three benefit levels have been established for P-EBT benefit issuance based on the duration of the eligible student’s COVID-related absence*. Students will continue to be issued benefits on a monthly basis and will receive one of three amounts based on their number of absence days within that month.
The benefit levels are as follows:
- Students with 0.1 – 5.99 COVID-related absence days* will receive $21 for that month.
- Students with 6 – 15.99 COVID-related absence days* will receive $71 for that month.
- Students with 16+ COVID-related absence days* will receive $121 for that month.
*A COVID-Related absence can be school-directed or parent-directed. Eligible students that are not physically present in the classroom can still qualify for P-EBT benefits even if they are remote learners.
| Benefit Months | Date Schools Provide Data to NDE | Date NDE Provides Data to DHHS | Issuance Dates |
| Corrected 2021 Summer P-EBT | February 11, 2022 | February 15, 2022 | March 11, 2022 |
| August, September and October | March 18, 2022 | March 23, 2022 | April 20, 2022 |
| November, December and January | April 15, 2022 | April 21, 2022 | May 19, 2022 |
| February and March | May 16, 2022 | May 23, 2022 | June 16, 2022 |
| April and May | July 18, 2022 | July 25, 2022 | August 16, 2022 |
| August – May (Clean Up) | October 5, 2022 | October 7, 2022 | November 9, 2022 |
Students that qualify for 21-22 P-EBT benefits will continue to be uploaded into the NDE portal for benefit issuance under the P-EBT Data Collection. School food authorities will need to indicate in this data how many covid-related absences each qualifying student had within the month of upload. Please find instructions for uploading student data into the portal for P-EBT benefit issuance in the 2021-2022 Resources section.
USDA has provided final approval for Nebraska’s Summer 2022 P-EBT plan.
Students are eligible for Summer 2022 P-EBT benefits if
- The student was enrolled at your school district on the last day of the 2021-22 school year; AND
- The student qualified for free or reduced-priced meals during the 2021-22 school year; OR
- The student submitted a meal application demonstrating eligibility for free or reduced-price meals during the summer coverage period (May 31 – August 13, 2022); OR
- The student was matched in the Direct Certification system at some point during the summer coverage period (May 31 – August 13, 2022).
All qualifying students will receive the standard benefit of $391 in a single payment on either December 13 or December 15 (dates are TENTATIVE and subject to change).
School districts will continue to utilize the NDE Portal (https://portal.education.ne.gov/) for uploading a file containing data for all students eligible to receive Summer 2022 benefits. Data must be uploaded successfully by October 21, 2022 to guarantee benefit issuance for students.
Resources for Summer 2022 P-EBT:
The P-EBT summer file upload instructions are available here: https://pebt.education.ne.gov/Home/GetSummerInstructions.
The P-EBT summer file template is here: https://pebt.education.ne.gov/Content/Files/20212022-PEBTTemplate.csv.
The P-EBT Data Conference Presentation from August 22 can be accessed here: NDE 8/22 Data Conference: PEBT Presentation
Nutrition Services Programs
Child Nutrition Program Statistics
In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.
Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.
To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: ASCR%20P-Complaint-Form-0508-0002-508-11-28-17Fax2Mail.pdf”>https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USDA-OASCR%20P-Complaint-Form-0508-0002-508-11-28-17Fax2Mail.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by: