2022-2023 Pandemic EBT Dictionary
This dictionary is available to provide definitions and explanations of words and terms associated with the operations of the School Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (School P-EBT) program for the 2022-2023 school year. To find a word or term, select the first letter of the word or term you are seeking from the quick links menu below.
Quick links: C | D | F | N | P | S | Q | V
C
- The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is a non-pricing meal service option for schools and school districts in low-income areas. CEP allows schools and districts in areas affected by high levels of poverty. This allows these schools to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students without collecting household applications.
- Schools and school districts interested in participating in CEP must apply. Approved CEP applications are valid for four years.
- Because all students at a CEP school are automatically eligible to receive free meals, information requested within the portal (student identifying information, parent and caretaker information, and number of P-EBT eligible days) should be provided for all students that attend CEP schools.
- A student who meets all eligibility criteria (and whose school has met all eligibility criteria) can receive P-EBT benefits for each day their school tells DHS that they were absent for a COVID-related reason. At a high level, this can include:
- Any absence where the school directs students to stay home for a COVID-related reason. As long as students are home at the school’s direction, and the school is acting out of “concern” about COVID-19, then these are P-EBT-eligible days. This would include a school-ordered quarantine of a student, a group of students, a classroom, or a school. It would also include any other stay-at-home order mandated by the school, whatever its duration, as long as it is part of the school’s or the state’s protocol for managing COVID-19 outbreaks, positive tests, potential exposure, etc.
- Any absence initiated by the parent or caretaker that is recognized and accepted by school officials as COVID-19-related. At the discretion of the school, this could include a parent or caretaker’s decision to keep their child home after a positive test or possible exposure to COVID-19. It could also include, at the school's discretion, a parent or caretaker’s decision to keep their child home after exposure at school in cases where the school does not direct the child to stay home. In all cases, the school may count these as P-EBT-eligible days if the school records them as excused absences and recognizes them as COVID-19-related.
- Not every absence will be COVID-19-related. Schools should follow provided guidance when determining and reporting which absences count as P-EBT eligible days (related to COVID-19) and which do not. A day on which a student misses school due to an illness or incident unrelated to COVID-19 would not be considered a P-EBT eligible day. Days on which a school suspends bus service or cancels classes due to an inability to staff positions for reasons not directly related to COVID-19 would not be considered P-EBT eligible days. Unexcused absences from school do not count as P-EBT eligible days.
- A student does not have to had completed school work or participated in remote instruction on days that they are absent for a COVID-19-related reason in order for that day to be considered a P-EBT eligible day.
- Other examples include days on which:
- A school dictates that a student must remain home after testing positive for COVID-19.
- A school dictates that a student must remain home after a family member tests positive for COVID-19.
- A school dictates that a student must remain home after their teacher or other school staff member tests positive for COVID-19.
- A parent chooses to keep their student out of school due to a COVID-19 exposure or positive test (and the school accepts and marks this as a valid COVID-related absence).
- If a school administrator has questions about whether a particular student absence circumstance should be counted as a P-EBT eligible day, they should reach out to DHS prior to uploading any of that student's information into the portal.
D
- Abbreviated as DCF.
- Provides up-to-date data available on students who are directly certified to receive free or reduced price meals.
- Abbreviated as DHS.
- Provides primary management, oversight, and support of the P-EBT program.
- Abbreviated as DPI.
- Helps to coordinate and communicate with school food authority (SFA) administrators regarding P-EBT program updates and requirements.
- Provides information as to which schools are eligible to participate in P-EBT (based on their National School Lunch Program participation and whether or not they are operating as a fully virtual academy).
- Students are automatically eligible for free or reduced price school meals if they are in foster care or if their household participates in certain public assistance programs such as FoodShare, W-2 cash benefits (TANF), Medicaid, or the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR).
- When a student is directly certified for free meals, the student's family does not need to complete the application for free or reduced price meals. By being directly certified, a student meets the FRPL-enrollment eligibility criteria for P-EBT benefits.
- SFA administrators will be asked to perform a partial run prior to each portal cut-off date to ensure that they are apprised of the most up-to-date list of all students at their school(s) who are directly certified to receive free or reduced price meals. Information requested within the portal (student identifying information, parent/caretaker information, and number of P-EBT eligible days) should be provided for all directly certified students enrolled in their school(s).
F
- Students are not eligible for P-EBT benefits until their school has met the five-day threshold in the 2022-2023 school year. A school meets this threshold when it has had at least five consecutive school days of pandemic-related closure, reduced in-person attendance, or reduced instructional hours in the current school year. The date on which each school meets the five-day threshold (day #1 of this five-day period) must be reported within the Student Information Portal.
- To help determine how to select the most accurate five-day threshold date for each school, below are some tips and clarifications for SFA representatives:
- Each school within a district/SFA might have a different five-day threshold date.
- Consider whether each school has had at least five school days in a row on which it wasn’t operating at 100% in-person attendance. When was the first time each school had such a five-day stretch? We need to know the date of the first day of that five consecutive day period.
- This five-day threshold can be met in several ways, including but not limited to: a school closing and switching to all virtual learning for at least five school days in a row, having at least one student opt to learn virtually or absent for a COVID-19-related reason for at least five school days in a row (this constitutes a reduction in overall in-person attendance), or shortening the school day hours for at least five school days in a row.
- A school may have met this threshold as of their very first day of the 2022-2023 school year because they had at least some students learning from home or absent for COVID-19-related reasons since the beginning of the year. If this was true for a school, the reported five-day threshold date should be their first day of school in the 2022-2023 year.
- Any reduction in a school’s in-person attendance counts—a full closure is not necessary to fulfill this criteria.
- Even if only one student was learning virtually or was absent for five days in a row due to COVID-19, this would count as “reduced attendance” at the school.
- Similarly, if students were provided an option to learn virtually, having only one student take advantage of this for five consecutive school days would be considered “reduced in-person attendance.”
- Any reduction in a school’s instructional hours counts—if a school shortened its in-person school days due to the pandemic, this would fulfill the criteria.
- The five consecutive school days should not include weekends or holidays. This means that the five consecutive school days could, for example, be a Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday-Friday, or they could be a Wednesday-Thursday-Friday-Monday-Tuesday.
- Example: Only one grade at a school (but not others) started having students learn virtually or be absent for a COVID-19-related reason on September 1 and continued that way for at least five days. This means that the school’s five-day period included September 1, 2, 6, 7, and 8 (weekends and holidays don’t count). The date that should be reported is September 1, 2022.
- Example: All of a school’s students learned in-person to start the school year. On October 13, one student at the school switched to virtual learning. They continued virtual learning until Thanksgiving. This means that the school’s five-day period included October 13, 14, 17, 18, and 19 (weekends don’t count). The date that should be reported is October 13, 2022.
- Example: All of a school’s students learned in-person to start the school year. On September 20, one student was absent for at least five days in a row for a COVID-19-related reason. This means that the school’s five-day period included September 20, 21, 22, 23, and 26 (weekends don’t count). The date that should be reported is September 20, 2022.
- Wisconsin’s version of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). FoodShare, is a program that helps people with limited money buy the food they need for good health.
- Being enrolled in FoodShare means that a student should be directly certified to receive free or reduced price meals at school. This student’s name should show up when performing partial runs prior to each portal cut-off date and should be included in the Student Information Portal.
- Being enrolled in FoodShare does not necessarily mean that a student can get P-EBT benefits. That said, if a student is determined to be eligible to receive a non-zero amount of P-EBT benefits and is part of an active FoodShare household, the P-EBT benefits will be added onto the family’s QUEST card (just like their FoodShare benefits).
- P-EBT benefits can be spent in the same places and on the same items as FoodShare benefits.
- At schools that participate in the National School Lunch Program and/or School Breakfast Program, students who meet certain eligibility criteria can enroll or be automatically enrolled to receive free or reduced price meals. In Wisconsin, a student can become FRPL-enrolled in one of two ways: (1) through submitting an FRPL application to their school for approval by their school, or (2) through direct certification via their enrollment in another public assistance program (such as FoodShare).
- A student must be FRPL-enrolled to be eligible for P-EBT benefits in the 2022-2023 school year. A student will not receive any benefits for months before they are FRPL-enrolled.
- Once a student is officially enrolled to receive free or reduced price meals during the 2022-2023 school year, they will continue to be eligible throughout the remainder of the school year. In other words, they will not need to re-apply or re-certify month-to-month to retain their FRPL-enrollment for the 2022-2023 school year.
- An educational institution that operates 100% virtually (there is no in-person learning component nor are meals served in-person to students).
- These institutions (PDF) are not eligible for P-EBT because they do not participate in the National School Lunch Program, a criteria for school P-EBT eligibility.
N
- A federally run program in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions designed to provide nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children each school day.
- A school must participate in either the National School Lunch Program or the School Breakfast Program (or both) for its students to be considered for P-EBT benefits.
- Fully virtual academies cannot participate in the NSLP or SBP (because their students do not attend in-person and would not be receiving free or reduced price meals if not for the pandemic) which is why their students are not eligible for P-EBT.
P
- Schools are required by DPI to access direct certification reports via DCF a minimum of three times per school year. This year, for the purposes of P-EBT, SFA representatives will need to access DCF direct certification information just prior to each portal cut-off date. This means SFA representatives will be pulling direct certification information at least five times during the 2022-2023 school year for P-EBT.
- To streamline what is being asked of SFAs, at each of these five intervals, SFA representatives will only need to perform what is known as a partial run. A partial run report pulls only information about new or recently directly certified students.
- SFA representatives will need to ensure that any student listed as directly certified on the partial run report is also included in their portal as an eligible student (and P-EBT eligible days are reported for said student(s)).
- A day on which an FRPL-enrolled student at an NSLP- and/or SBP-participating school is reported as having been absent for a COVID-related reason or having learned virtually or from home.
- The Student Information Portal provides a way for SFA administrators to report to DHS how many P-EBT eligible days each eligible student experienced in each month of the 2022-2023 school year.
- A P-EBT eligible day cannot occur:
- Before the school has met the five-day threshold
- Before the student has become enrolled to receive free or reduced price meals
- On a weekend or holiday (when instruction would not typically be offered)
- The first deadline to upload information into the Student Information Portal is December 9, 2022. By that date, please share information into the portal about when each of your eligible schools met the five-day threshold for this year as well as information for all of your FRPL-enrolled students for the months of August, September, and October. At the end of the day on December 9, 2022, the portal will close, we will process the data you’ve shared, and we will work toward issuing benefits in January. The portal will re-open a few days after benefits have been sent out.
- School districts must be sure to upload all necessary student learning and attendance information into the Student Information Portal before each of these dates to be sure their students can receive P-EBT benefits on time, if applicable. Relatedly, prior to each portal cut-off date, it is strongly recommended that districts download a file with all of their uploaded and submitted student information just prior to each portal cut-off date. This way, they will have a record of what has been submitted on behalf of their schools and students to reference as needed during the two and a half week period when the portal is closed.
- The Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) programs are part of the governmental response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The federal government reviews and approves state agency plans to administer P-EBT (per 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), the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021 (PL 116-260), and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (PL 117-2)).
- Pre-6 P-EBT is the P-EBT sub-program aimed at providing temporary emergency nutrition and food benefits to eligible non-school-aged children (children under age 6). Pre-6 P-EBT is designed to provide money to children in active FoodShare households who would have been qualified to receive free or reduced price meals at a covered childcare facility but cannot access those meals as usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
S
- The SBP is a federally run program that provides reimbursement to states to operate nonprofit breakfast programs in schools and residential childcare institutions.
- A school must participate in either the National School Lunch Program or the School Breakfast Program (or both) for its students to be considered for P-EBT benefits.
- Fully virtual academies cannot participate in the NSLP or SBP (because their students do not attend in-person and would not be receiving free or reduced price meals if not for the pandemic) which is why their students are not eligible for P-EBT.
- The governing body which is responsible for the administration of one or more schools. This term is often used in lieu of the term “school district” within P-EBT communications so as to properly encompass all public, private, and charter school arrangements.
- The Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) programs are part of the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The federal government reviews and approves state agency plans to administer P-EBT (per 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), the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021 (PL 116-260), and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (PL 117-2)).
- School P-EBT is the P-EBT sub-program aimed at providing temporary emergency nutrition and food benefits to eligible school aged-children. School P-EBT is designed to provide money to families of students who would have been qualified to receive free or reduced price meals at school (through the NSLP and/or SBP) but cannot access those meals as usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The simplified application is a way for families to provide missing information to DHS that will aid in the systematic issuance of P-EBT benefits to them, if applicable.
- As in the 2021-2022 school year, a parent or caretaker would need to fill out a simplified application on behalf of their child(ren) if DHS does not have access to the family’s mailing address through portal submissions by SFAs or via the state’s eligibility system or other state-accessible sources.
- Should a parent or caretaker need to fill out a simplified application, they can do so online or over the phone by contacting the P-EBT Support Team.
- The mechanism through which SFA administrators can share necessary information about their students to inform the determination and issuance of School P-EBT benefits.
- Portal access will be provided by email for the first time on October 31, 2022, to one designated point-of-contact at each SFA that contains an eligible school. This individual will be provided detailed instructions as well as a video walkthrough showing how to correctly utilize the portal.
- The portal allows SFA administrators to share information with DHS about which students are FRPL-enrolled at their schools, information about the parents or caretakers of these students, and the number of P-EBT eligible days experienced by each of these students in each month of the 2022-2023 school year.
- The Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) programs are part of the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The federal government reviews and approves state agency plans to administer P-EBT (per 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), the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021 (PL 116-260), and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (PL 117-2)).
- Summer P-EBT is the P-EBT sub-program aimed at providing temporary emergency nutrition and food benefits to eligible school aged and non-school-aged children during the summer months.
Q
- For families enrolled in FoodShare with an active QUEST card, P-EBT benefits are loaded onto their QUEST card. It is a plastic card families can use like a debit card to buy food. A QUEST card should be kept even if all benefits are used up. FoodShare or P-EBT benefits for future months may be loaded onto the same card. Families can visit the EBT EDGE website or use the ebtEDGE mobile app to check their balance.
- If a family cannot find their QUEST card, they can call QUEST Card Services at 877-415-5164 to get a new card. The new card will be either another QUEST card or a P-EBT card. The old QUEST card will be canceled when they call.
V
- A student who meets all eligibility criteria (and whose school has met all eligibility criteria) can receive P-EBT benefits for days on which they are reported to DHS as having learned virtually or learned from home.
- Under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), P-EBT’s authorizing legislation, some virtual learning options are considered P-EBT eligible and some are not. A virtual learning day may count for P-EBT eligibility when the school attended by the student is closed (all students virtual) or is operating at reduced attendance or hours (some students virtual) due to COVID-19, and the student could have received free or reduced price meals at the school except for the school closure or reduced operations.
- Virtual days are not eligible for P-EBT if the school attended by the student is a fully virtual academy.