[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 75 (Wednesday, April 21, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20654-20658]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-08212]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food and Nutrition Service


Agency Information Collection Activities: School Meals Operations 
Study: Evaluation of the COVID-19 Child Nutrition Waivers and Child 
Nutrition Programs

AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 
notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment 
on this proposed information collection. This collection is a revision 
of a currently approved collection for the School Meals Operations 
(SMO) Study (OMB control number 0584-0607, expiration date 08/31/2022) 
with updated survey instruments for school year (SY) 2021-2022. This 
study will collect data from State agencies and public school food 
authorities (SFAs), including disaggregated administrative data and 
data on the continued use and effectiveness of the CN COVID-19 waivers.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before June 21, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be sent to: Holly Figueroa, Food and Nutrition 
Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1320 Braddock Pl, 5th floor, 
Alexandria, VA 22314. Comments may also be submitted via fax to the 
attention of Holly Figueroa at 703-305-2576 or via email to 
[email protected].

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Comments will also be accepted through the Federal eRulemaking Portal. 
Go to http://www.regulations.gov, and follow the online instructions 
for submitting comments electronically.
    All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the 
request for Office of Management and Budget approval. All comments will 
be a matter of public record.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of this information collection should be directed to Holly 
Figueroa at [email protected] or 703-305-2105.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the 
proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper 
performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the 
information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 
agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions 
that were used; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity 
of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden 
of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including 
use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other 
technological collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.
    Title: School Meals Operations Study: Evaluation of the COVID-19 
Child Nutrition Waivers and Child Nutrition Programs (formerly entitled 
School Meals Operations Study: State Agency COVID-19 Child Nutrition 
Waivers Evaluation).
    Form Number: N/A.
    OMB Number: 0584-0607.
    Expiration Date: 08/31/2022.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Abstract: FNS administers the school-based Child Nutrition (CN) 
Programs (i.e., the school meal programs) in partnership with States 
and local SFAs. Section 28(a) of the Richard B. Russell National School 
Lunch Act authorizes the U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary to 
conduct annual national performance assessments of the school meal 
programs. FNS plans to conduct this annual assessment through the 
School Meals Operations (SMO) Study in SY 2021-2022. FNS will also use 
the SMO Study to fulfill States' reporting requirements on the 
nationwide waivers approved by FNS pursuant to section 2202 of the 
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) (Pub. L. 116-127). This 
notice covers the second iteration of the SMO Study, which will collect 
data from State and local agencies on the CN COVID-19 waivers as well 
as data on state and local CN program operations during SYs 2020-2021 
and 2021-2022. Participation in the SMO Study will fulfill States' 
statutory reporting requirements for the CN COVID-19 nationwide waivers 
used in fiscal year (FY) 21 and FY 22, which correspond roughly to SYs 
2020-21 and 2021-22, respectively.
    The SMO Study is a revision of the previously approved Child 
Nutrition Program Operations Study II (CN-OPS II, OMB control number 
0584-0607). It is designed to collect timely data on policy, 
administrative, and operational issues in the school-based CN Programs, 
which contributes to budget preparation, development and implementation 
of program policy and regulations, and identification of areas for 
technical assistance and training. Because the COVID-19 pandemic 
changed the way that school meal programs operated for SY 2020-2021, 
with other CN programs such as the Child and Adult Care Food Program 
and the Summer Food Service Program being used in place of or in 
combination with the National School Lunch and School Breakfast 
Programs (NSLP and SBP) to provide meals to students, the SMO Study 
will collect administrative and web survey data from States on each of 
these programs. Specifically, this study will help FNS obtain:
    1. General descriptive data on the characteristics of CN Programs 
to inform the budget process and answer questions about topics of 
current policy interest;
    2. Data on program operations to identify potential topics for 
training and technical assistance for SFAs and State Agencies (SAs) 
responsible for administering the CN programs;
    3. Administrative data to identify program trends and predictors;
    4. Information on the use and effectiveness of the CN COVID-19 
waivers, which will be used to satisfy States' reporting requirements 
on these waivers under FFCRA.
    The activities to be conducted subject to this notice include:

 Collecting disaggregated administrative data for FY 2021 and 
FY 2022 from 67 State Agency Directors that are currently only reported 
in aggregate on forms FNS-10, Report of School Program Operations, FNS-
418, Report of the Summer Food Service Program for Children, and FNS-
44, Report of the Child and Adult Care Food Program (which are approved 
under OMB# 0584-0594, Food Programs Reporting System (FPRS), expiration 
date 07/31/2023)
 Conducting two web surveys of 67 State Agency Directors to 
meet the statutory reporting requirements of the CN COVID-19 waivers 
separately for SY 2020-21 and SY 2021-22 within the one-year timelines 
set by the FFCRA
 Conducting one web survey of 1,266 public SFA Directors

    The first year of the SMO Study, which sought clearance for data 
collection in SY 2020-2021, was cleared by the Office of Management and 
Budget on March 4, 2021 (School Meals Operations Study: State Agency 
COVID-19 Child Nutrition Waivers Evaluation, OMB control number 0584-
0607, expiration date 08/31/2022). The Year 1 collection only included 
the state-level data collection components (web survey and 
administrative data collection) because it was repurposed to meet 
States' statutory reporting requirements for the nationwide CN COVID-19 
waivers by gathering information on the use and effectiveness of the 
waivers from March-September 2020. This notice covers the second 
iteration of the SMO Study, which intends to collect data in SY 2021-
2022 from both States and public SFAs and in SY 2022-23 from States 
only. The administrative data collection components subject to this 
notice will cover FY 2021 (October 2020-September 2021) and FY 2022 
(October 2021-September 2022), which correspond roughly to SYs 2020-21 
and 2021-22, respectively, while the web surveys will ask about program 
operations and the use and impacts of the CN COVID-19 waivers during 
SYs 2020-2021 and 2021-2022. The State-level surveys and administrative 
data collections will be used to satisfy States' reporting requirements 
on the CN COVID-19 nationwide waivers pursuant to the FFCRA.

    Note: Personally identifiable information (PII) will not be used 
to retrieve survey records or data.

    Affected Public: State, Local, and Tribal Governments: Respondent 
groups identified include: (1) SFA Directors for public schools, and 
(2) State Agency Directors from all 50 States, 5 territories and the 
District of Columbia.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: The total estimated number of 
respondents is 1,339. This includes (1) 67 State Agency Directors (in 
some States, CN programs are administered by multiple agencies); the 
State Agency Directors are expected to participate in both of the 
administrative data collections (FY 21 and FY 22) and State

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Agency Director surveys subject to this notice (3 of the 67 State 
Agency Directors are also expected to participate in the pretest, which 
will only be conducted once), and (2) 1,272 SFA Directors. Six SFA 
Directors are expected to participate in the pre-test of the SFA 
Director web survey; these pretest participants are unique respondents 
and will not be included in the sample for the SFA survey. An 
additional 1,266 public SFA Directors will be included in the sample 
for the SFA Director web survey, of which 1,012 are expected to 
respond. The total number of respondents also includes 254 non-
respondents whom FNS expects will not respond to the study activities.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: State Agency Director 
respondents will be asked to complete an initial telephone meeting and 
respond to the FNS-10, -418 and -44 administrative data requests one 
time annually (two times total, in SY 2021-22 and SY 2022-23). SFA 
Director respondents will be asked to complete their web survey one 
time in SY 2021-22, while State Agency Directors will be asked to 
complete two web surveys in SY 2021-22 (fall of 2021 and spring/summer 
of 2022), each of which will focus on different sets of CN COVID-19 
nationwide waivers in order to meet the statutory reporting timeline of 
one-year for each set of waivers under the FFCRA. In the event of non-
response, State Agency Directors may receive reminder emails, a phone 
call, and a last chance postcard until the target of 67 respondents is 
reached. Similarly, SFA Directors who do not respond may receive 
reminders via email, phone, or post card until the target number of 
1,012 respondents is reached. FNS estimates that respondents will 
average 6.65 responses (7,211 responses/1,085 respondents) across the 
entire collection, with non-respondents averaging 10.71 responses 
(2,720 responses/254 non-respondents). Across all participants in the 
collection (respondents and non-respondents) the average number of 
responses is 7.42 (9,931 responses/1,339 total respondents).
    Estimated Total Annual Responses: 9,931.
    Estimated Time per Response: The estimated time per response ranges 
from 3 minutes (0.0501 hours) to 6 hours depending on the instrument, 
as shown in the table below, with an average estimated time for all 
participants of 20 minutes (0.34 hours) per response.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 3,408.40 hours. See 
the table below for estimated total annual burden for each type of 
respondent.
BILLING CODE 3410-30-P

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[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN21AP21.065



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Cynthia Long,
Acting Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service.
[FR Doc. 2021-08212 Filed 4-20-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-30-C