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Verification Summary Report (VSR)

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Presenter

Gretchen Huntzer

School Nutrition Programs Specialist

ghuntzer@doe.in.gov

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Goal

Today participants will learn how to complete the Verification Summary Report due January 15.

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Reminders

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Verification Webpage

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Due Dates

Action	Due Date
Annual Financial Report (AFR)	September 16
Verification Process	Completed by November 15
Verification Summary Report	January 15

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Due Dates

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VSR Overview

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VSR Overview

CNPweb

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The report is to be completed and submitted through the CNPweb. There is no need to print it out and mail in to our office, which does happen sometimes. Once on the report tab, you will see a plus (+) symbol to open the report. (click)

There are 6 sections to the report, however your school or Residential Child Care Institution (which I will refer to as RCCI) might be able to skip certain parts depending on your mode of operation. I will explain more as we walk through each section. Keep in mind sponsors that operate Community Eligibility Provision (or CEP) corporation-wide, Provision 2 or Provision 3 corporation-wide, and RCCIs are still required to complete the report, even if verification was not required. Luckily, the reporting process is simplified for these types of schools and facilities.

As you are working on the report, if you need to stop midway through, make sure you either save on the left side menu or scroll to the bottom and click save. (click) This will save your progress and error any area that is incomplete.

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VSR Overview

CNPweb

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Section one

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Section one CONTINUED

Troubleshooting Tip:

If the number of students in section one seems off, make sure the number of students is reported correctly in the October claim at each site.

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Section one CONTINUED

Residential Child Care Institutions (RCCI)

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RCCIs will need to enter information into Section 1. (click) Line 1-2 will already be populated based on the October claim. The first column lists the total number of sites under the RCCI, the second column lists the total number of students at those facilities. Again if this number is not accurate, you will need to revise your October claim for reimbursement. (click)

Lines 1-2a and 1-2b (click) differentiate between day students and resident children.

Day students are those kids that come to the facility only for the day and do not spend the night at the facility. (click) For the few RCCIs in Indiana that have day students, you will report the number of sites within your sponsorship that have day students in in the first column of line 1-2a and then the total number of students at those sites in in the second column. Keep in mind, (click) if your facility has day students, you are only reporting the number of day students in the second column, not a total of residential and day students in that particular facility. (click)

(click) For facilities with no day students, the first column on line 2b will be the total number of sites, the second column is the total number of students enrolled in those facilities in October.

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Section one CONTINUED

Residential Child Care Institutions (RCCI)

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Section two

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Section two will populate only for sponsors who operate Provision 2 or 3 or CEP at one or all school buildings.

Sponsors operating Provision 2 or 3 in any school, (click) will complete lines 1 through 2b.

Provision schools are either operating in a base year or a non-base year. The base year is the year where the free and reduced rates are calculated by processing Direct Certification and accepting applications. This established the rates for reimbursement for all years the site is on provision. If your school is operating on base year, (click) you will enter the number of schools implementing base year in the first column of line 1. Then enter the total number of students in those schools as of October 31^st in the second column.

For those operating a non-base year, no applications were collected as the reimbursement rate was determined in the base year. (click) In the first column of line 2, the sponsor will fill out the total number of schools operating provision 2 or 3 in a non-base year. Then the total number of students at these schools as of Oct. 31st will be entered into the second column. In addition to this line, sponsors will also need to fill out the next two lines. In 2a (click) enter the total number of free students at non-base year schools. In 2b enter the total number of reduced students at the non-base year schools.

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Section two CONTINUED

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Section two CONTINUED

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Direct Certification

How to D ownload a Complete DC Student List

Troubleshooting tip: From the DC Download History, make sure all “CertifyIndividual” lists under All Sites have been downloaded. This pulls the students into the complete DC student list.

Downloaded

Not Downloaded

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Before we move into section 3, which is where sponsors report their Direct Certification numbers, I want to quickly highlight how to categorize students for this section of the report.

If your SIS or POS system does not pull the DC student information into a report, you can pull a year to date (YTD) report from the Search Approved Students option in CNPweb. Set the end date as October 31 to ensure you do not capture students who have been found to be DC since that date. See the How to Download a Complete DC Student List resource on the DC web page for step by step instructions.

Before pulling this list, make sure all lists for individual DC Lookup have been downloaded. You can do this by looking under the DC Download History option and look to see if the Match Source column CertifyIndividual lists have been downloaded. You do not need to save these lists, but by downloading them, you pull the student into your total list of approved students.
Additionally, make sure you have denied all withdrawn students and students who may have graduated from the previous school year. You only want current students to appear on that list.

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Direct Certification CONTINUED

Source Codes

F = SNAP
A = TANF
W = Foster
M = Medicaid Free
R = Medicaid Reduced

Troubleshooting tip: See additional designations like M3, M4, M5, or M6? Those students should not be directly certified for meal benefits using those codes. Please notify the household of the error and give 10 days’ notice if the removal of DC reduces their benefit.

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Once downloaded, column K, identified as “Source,” lists the eligibility code: an F stands for SNAP. A stands for TANF. W stands for Foster. M stands for Medicaid Free. R stands for Medicaid Reduced.

If your SIS or POS system populates a DC report for verification purposes, this report is a great way to spot check that students are labeled correctly.

(click) Troubleshooting tip: If you see additional designations such as M3, M4, M5, or M6, those students should not be directly certified for meal benefits. The system incorrectly pulled these designations for a short period of time. Please notify these households that the benefit will change to paid in 10 days. If you have a current income application already on file for the household, you can use that to determine a new benefit . If the household feels they should qualify for benefits but has not submitted an income application, they can do so before the 10 day grace period expires.

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Section three

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Ok, now we can move on to Section Three. All sponsors must complete section 3. This is the section where Direct Certification is reported.

Sponsors that operate CEP corporation-wide and RCCI sponsors with no day students are not required to report Direct Certification number and can check the box in the area numbered 3-1 (click). Those sponsors can then move to step 4. If you are unsure if you can select the checkbox, contact our office for assistance.

(click) All other sponsors are required to fill out lines 2 through 5. If you have no numbers to report in this section because you could not identify any students through Direct Certification, contact our office.

Let’s go line by line. Please be aware you are reporting number of students as of October 31, not current to when the report is completed. If you had a DC student withdraw mid-way through October, then you will not count that student in this section.

On line 3-2 (click) you will enter the total number of Directly Certified students that are Free due to SNAP. You will count any student that was found on the DC match list download identified with an F in the source column. Include any student identified through DC Look-Up as assistance type F, and any student that had the DC benefit extended to them because someone in their household was DC because of SNAP.

On line 3-3 (click), you will enter the total number of Direct Certified students that are receiving free benefits due to TANF, Medicaid Free, Foster, Homeless, Migrant, Runaway, and Head Start. You will count any student that was found on the DC Match List download with an A, W, or M; any student identified through DC Look-Up because of TANF, Foster, or Medicaid Free; and any student that had the DC benefit extended to them because someone in their household was DC because of TANF or Medicaid Free. Remember DC foster status cannot extend to other students in the household.

You will also count any student that was considered DC due to the homeless or migrant liaison signing off on a homeless, runaway, or migrant situation.

Additionally if you received documentation from the court or state agency about a student’s foster status, but you couldn’t find them in the DC system, you will still count them as DC in 3-3.

Keep Medicaid Free and Medicaid Reduced numbers separate. Medicaid Free will go into 3-3. Medicaid Reduced will be reported in 3-5.

3-4 is often confusing for schools because this situation is not common. (click) On this line you will report the number of students you approved for free meals because the household submitted documentation from the SNAP agency showing they receive SNAP benefits. This doesn’t include households that you were able to DC Match or Lookup. This number also does not include the students that were approved for free meals based on a case number written on an application (unless you asked for documentation to verify their status and they provided the SNAP approval letter). This is not very common, so it is not unusual to enter 0 into this section.

3-5 (click) is where you will report the total number of students direct certified for Reduced meals due to Medicaid. You will include students found on the DC match lists with an R in the Source type column, identified as Medicaid Reduced through DC Lookups, and those that had DC eligibility of Medicaid Reduced extended to them because they live in the household of someone who was found in the DC system.

Again, report the total number of students as of October 31^st.

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Section three CONTINUED

Troubleshooting tips:

Count the total number of students reported in section 3. Too high? Recheck enrollment and DC categorization.
Sponsors with some CEP sites (but not all) should only be reporting the number of DC students at their non-CEP schools.
Lines 3-2 and 3-3 almost always have the largest numbers in the entire section.

Is 3-4 higher? This is an issue, should be very low
Is 3-5 higher? Re-check categories, make sure this only includes DC reduced students

No students found on DC matches? Contact me!

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Let’s go over some common mistakes that occur in Section 3.

Make sure you add the total number of students reported in Section 3. If this number is higher than the total number of enrolled students reported in section 1, something is off. Either the total enrollment is too low, or your DC counts are not correct.

Sponsors partially implementing CEP, where not every school in the corporation is CEP, will only be reporting the DC numbers, in section 3, of the schools that are not implementing CEP. The students at sites operating CEP were reported in Section 2.

Lines 3-2 (SNAP reporting) or 3-3 (Medicaid Free, TANF, Foster, Homeless, Migrant, Runaway) are almost always the largest numbers reported in this section. If 3-4 is higher (SNAP letter, only), then there are some issues, the amount reported in this section should be very low or 0. If 3-5 is higher than other categories (Medicaid Reduced), re-check to make sure you are counting all students appropriately.

If you are one of the few SFAs that are required to do direct certification but cannot identify any students through DC, contact our office and we can override this section for you.

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Section four

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Section 4 is where sponsors will report the number of applications on file. CEP-only districts and RCCIs with no day students should skip section 4 and move to section 5.

All other sponsors must fill this section out. On line 1 (click), sponsors will report their categorically approved applications on file on October 1. A categorical application is one that was not approved because of income. Instead it was approved based on face value because a valid looking case number was on the application or the foster box was checked. If the sponsor was able to direct certify this kind of application before October 1, either through DC Look-Up, a DC Match List, or through valid documentation submitted by the household then the application won’t be counted in Section 4. Instead, you will count the students in section 3 under Direct Certification.

If the categorical application was never direct certified, then you will report it on 4-1. (click) In the first column you will report the total number of categorical applications on October 1st. In the second column, you will report the total number of students on those applications as of October 31^st. Please note the difference in these dates!

On the second line (click), sponsors will report their applications approved for free meals due to income. If any of these applications were found through DC before October 1^st, you will not count them in this section. Instead, you will count the students in section 3. For all other Free applications due to income, you will report the total number of applications as of October 1^st in column A. Then you will enter the total number of students on those applications as of October 31^st.

On the third line (click), sponsors will report the applications approved for reduced meals due to income. If any of these applications were found via DC before October 1st, you will not count them in this section. Instead, you will count them in section 3. For all other reduced applications due to income, you will report the total number of applications as of October 1^st in the first column. Then you will enter the total number of students on those applications as of October 31^st in the second column. (click)

Once again, (click) please note the difference in dates to report this information. Applications on file as of October 1st and Number of students approved by application as of October 31st.

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Section four CONTINUED

Troubleshooting tips:

Make sure you have reported

Total number of household applications as of October 1
Total number of students as of October 31

Column A and Column B are usually not the same amount
Column A is usually less than Column B
T-1 and T-2 will automatically fill once report is submitted

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Here are some troubleshooting tips for section 4:

(click) Please make sure that you are reporting the count of applications based on October 1^st and the total number of students as of October 31^st. (click) Maybe you have a free income application that you pulled for verification this year and by October 31^st the status changed to paid. In column A, report that application because that was approved on file on October 1st. However in column B, do not include the number of students on that application because by October 31^st the status was changed to paid. (click)

The dates are not the only differences between the two columns. Notice that the first column (click) is asking for the count of applications, while column B (click) is asking for the count of students. Since households submit one application with multiple students listed, column B should have a larger number than column A. There are occasions, usually for very small SFAs, where column A is larger than B because by the end of the month some students no longer qualified for benefits due to verification. This is rare, so make sure when reviewing the report before submission, you check to make sure column A is the count of applications for the households and column B is the count of students approved by application. (click)

T-1 and T-2 are grey boxes. (click) These will be auto-generated once the report has been saved or submitted. If you want to see those numbers populate before completing section 5, complete sections 3 and section 4 and then click save. Then go back in to Edit by clicking the pencil icon. T-1 and T-2 should then be totaled. These numbers will be compared with your total enrollment in section 1. If this number is higher than your total October enrollment, make sure numbers are not duplicated by counting DC students in both section 3 and section 4.

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Section five

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Onto Section 5! This is the section to report verification results. This is a large section, so we will review it in smaller parts. Let’s look at 5-1 through 5-5.

Sponsors that operate CEP corporation-wide and RCCIs that do not process applications will check box 5-1 (click) and skip the rest of section 5. If you think you were not required to conduct verification, but aren’t sure, contact our office. All other sponsors will start on 5-2.

In 5-2 (click) you will report whether you completed the verification process by November 15^th, after November 15^th, or if the process was not completed at all.

Next, (click) is line 5-3. This is where sponsors will report the type of verification process used. Sponsors that had a 20% or higher non-response rate to verification requests the previous school year were required to conduct Standard (Error Prone) verification. (click).

Sponsors that had less than 20% non-responders the previous school year are allowed to pick any method including Standard (Error Prone Verification), Random (Alternate One) (click) which is the process of randomly pulling from the entire stack of approved applications on file. Or Alternate Two verification. (click) This requires verifying 1% of total error prone applications and .5% of categorical applications. Whichever method you used needs to be selected in 5-3.

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Section five CONTINUED

N/A

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For line 5-4, Sponsors that used Standard (Error Prone) Verification or Alternate 2 (click) are required to enter the total number of Error Prone Applications on file on October 1^st (click). This is because they were required to pull error prone applications. Sponsors that had more error prone apps then the amount they were required to verify will put the total number of error prone applications on file in this section even if they were not all verified. For example, if the school was required to verify 10 error prone applications and they had 34 error prone apps on file, they will enter 34 into 5-4. Schools that had a smaller number of error prone apps than the amount they were required to verify will still put the total error prone count of apps in 5-4. So say the school was required to verify 40 error prone apps, but they only had 34 on file, then 34 would be entered into 5-4. (click)

For sponsors that conducted Random - Alternate One verification (click), they will just enter N/A into 5-4 (click) and move onto 5-5.

Above box 5-5 (click) you will see a greyed box that says Mandated size of verification sample. This is auto-generated when the report is saved or submitted. Once the total number of applications is entered in section 4, the system will determine how many applications you were required to verify based on the verification process selected in 5-3. In order to see this number, make sure section 4 is complete and the method of verification in 5-3 is complete. Then click save at the bottom of the page. This will calculate the number. When you click Edit and scroll to this section again, you will see a number has popped up. If the number doesn’t match with the number of applications you verified, you will need to check the numbers entered in section 4.

5-5 (click) is where you will report the total number of applications you actually verified. In this box you will not include any applications verified for cause. You will only enter in the total applications you had to verify to meet the mandated verification sample size. Applications verified for cause will be reported in section 6.

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Section five CONTINUED

Troubleshooting tips:

Selecting Standard (Error Prone) or Alternate 2 in 5-3 but entering N/A in 5-4.
Selecting Standard (Error Prone) in 5-3 when you actually implemented Alternate 1.
Mandated size for verification and number of applications selected in 5-5 is off.

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Common errors in this area is when the Standard (Error Prone) or Alternate 2 buttons are checked in 5-3, but N/A was entered into 5-4 where you report the total number of Error Prone applications on file. If you are one of the rare schools that was required to do Standard (Error Prone) Verification and had 0 error prone applications, you will still enter 0 into 5-4. Do not enter N/A.
Another issue I see is that people will select the Standard (Error Prone) button in 5-3 for Standard Error Prone, but then I can tell later on that they completed the Random Verification based on the numbers reported further down on the report. If you did not pull your verification sample from Error Prone Apps, then you will check option #2.
I already mentioned the other issue that happens, where the mandated size of verification sample is different than the number reported in 5-5. We have noticed that some software companies don’t round up the 3% number. For instance if the 3% amount ends up being 4.1, the SFA must round-up and complete verification on 5 applications. If it turns out that your software company or your own math was off, and you don’t have enough applications verified based on the mandated size listed, and you have also double checked section 4 to make sure the numbers are correct, then you will need to pull additional applications for verification. Contact your field specialist if you have questions.

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Section five CONTINUED

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Section five CONTINUED

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Sponsors that requested verification documentation from households will report the results in 5-8.

In box A (click) applications pulled for verification that were originally approved because the household wrote a SNAP or TANF case number or checked the foster box will be reported here. Remember, only those that you could not identify as Direct Certified should be included in your verification sample size. If you had a categorical application that you verified, you will then find the row that applies to the results of verification. Let’s say a household was able to provide documentation from FSSA that shows they are currently receiving SNAP benefits, you will find the row that says Responded, No Change. You can see this on row 1(click). Then enter 1 in the first box for the number of categorical applications that responded and then enter the total number of students on that particular application in the second box.

In box B (click), results for applications that were originally approved for free because of income will be reported here. So let’s say when verification was over, you had 2 free income applications that changed to reduced price. You will find the row that says Responded, Changed to Reduced Price (click) in the first box enter 2 (for the number of applications) in the second box you will enter the total number of students reported on those 2 applications.

Box C (click) is where you will report the results for applications that were originally approved for reduced because of income. Let’s say a household that was approved for reduced meals, calls and says they want to decline benefits. So they never provide verification documentation. If that is the case, you will count them as responded, but changed to paid. So on row 3 (click), you would enter 1 application in the first box and then the total number of students on that application in the second box. (click)

If a household never responded to your multiple verification requests by the deadline and they changed to paid. You will report them as not responded, changed to paid on the bottom row (click). Pick the box that matches with their original eligibility - Box A (click) - free due to categorical app, Box B (click) - free due to income, or Box C (click)- reduced due to income.

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Section six

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Completion

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Tips

Tips to ensure correct information:

Review the VSR from 2020 or before to compare information.
Compare October’s claim information with the numbers that populate on your report.

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Take a look at past years’ Verification Summary Reports. You can click on the Program year you want to look at in the CNPweb and then click on the reports tab. Click view, to look at that year’s report. As long as there weren’t major changes to your school’s enrollment numbers and your schools haven’t changed from non-CEP operations to CEP operations, the reports should be relatively similar. If the numbers are way off, you might want to look into why.

You should also compare October’s eligibility information from your claim to the total number of free and reduced students reported on lines T-1 and T-2 (click). Look to see if the children reported on the claim matches or is close to the total number of students reported on the VSR. It is ok if the numbers are a little off, like for the free eligible students here (click), but looking at the reduced students in this example, the school may want to review the number reported on both the claim and the VSR to determine which is accurate. (click)

As a reminder the reported number of students on the VSR are from October 31 and the October claim doesn’t necessarily need to report student numbers on October 31, but should reflect the highest number of eligible students by category from the month as a whole. A slight variation in the numbers makes sense, but a large difference like the reduced numbers doesn’t really make sense. So you would want to check to make sure numbers weren’t double-reported or pulled from the wrong data.

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Questions?

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Thank you!

Gretchen Huntzer ghuntzer@doe.in.gov