Summer Electronic Benefit Program (S-EBT) Eligibility
Overview
As of Summer 2024, the Summer Electronic Benefit Program (S-EBT) was adopted by the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (P.L. 117-328). Data will be pulled from CALPADS to determine the students that are eligible for S-EBT benefits. See CALPADS flash 269 for detailed information.
NOTE: The ISAC Reporting System has been retired as of 2022/23 school year. Data will now be collected directly from CALPADS for reporting information to the S-EBT Program beginning Summer 2024.
Summer Electronic Benefit Program (S-EBT) Eligibility ↑
The federal Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (P.L. 117-328) authorized a new permanent, nationwide Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (S-EBT) Program beginning in Summer 2024.
Tasks on or before March 29, 2024 (first pull date):
- Ensure that enrollments are up-to-date in CALPADS.
- Ensure that the following programs records are updated in CALPADS: Free-reduced price meal (181, 182), migrant (135), and homeless (191).
- Ensure that student addresses are updated in CALPADS.
- Note: Student addresses for students in the first pull that are updated after March 29, 2024 will not be used; families will need to report any address changes through the S-EBT Customer Service Hotline.
- Collaborate with nutrition services staff on the S-EBT Program. The CDE’s Nutrition Services Division (NSD) has provided information on 2024 Summer EBT to their school nutrition partners. This information is located on the CDE Summer EBT 2024 Announcement web page at: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/smmrebt2024announcement.asp
Tasks on or after March 30, 2024:
- Ensure that students enrolling on or after March 30, 2024 through August 31, 2024 have enrollments in CALPADS, and that their program records (181, 182, 135, 191) and student addresses are uploaded. For schools that open before August 31, 2024, update CALPADS with student enrollments, particularly transitional kindergarten/kindergarten students enrolling in a California public school for the first time in the 2024−25 school year. Although those TK/KN students may not have been enrolled in 2023−24, they may be eligible for 2023−24 S-EBT benefits.
- Ensure that program records (181, 182, 135, 191) are updated for students who were enrolled on or before March 29, 2024. This is to identify students who became eligible for S-EBT benefits on or after March 29, 2024.
- Continue to collaborate with nutrition services staff on the S-EBT program.
ISAC Reporting System Retired ↑
NOTE: The P-EBT collection has been retired.
CALPADS Update Flash 250 provides information on California’s 2022−23 Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) state plan for School Year (SY) School-Age students. The plan has not been finalized or approved by the US Department of Agriculture at this time. The CALPADS Update Flash is attached to this article and should be reviewed carefully.
Per the CALPADS Update Flash, the key deadlines for data submission for P-EBT 4.0 are:
- May 22, 2023 for Summer P-EBT.4.0: LEAs must update the student enrollment/exit, program, and address data in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) by May 22, 2023. The CALPADS data updated by this date will be used to determine program eligibility and to mail P-EBT 4.0 cards to students for the Summer P-EBT 4.0 program benefits. In particular, LEAs should update exit data for any students who exited prior to May 1, 2023, or who enrolled on May 1, 2023 or after.
- June 30, 2023 for SY P-EBT 4.0: LEAs must update the student enrollment/exit, program, and address data in CALPADS by June 30, 2023. The CALPADS data updated by June 30, 2023, will be used to determine program eligibility. The updated address data will be used to mail P-EBT cards to the small subset of students who were not eligible for summer P-EBT benefits and therefore did not receive a P-EBT 4.0 card.
- June 30, 2023 for SY P-EBT 4.0: LEAs must submit the Student Absence Summary (STAS) file by month to the Independent Study Attendance Collection (ISAC) Reporting System by June 30, 2023. The ISAC will open on May 12, 2023 and close on June 30, 2023.
P-EBT Eligibility Criteria ↑
The CDE will use the following data sources to determine student eligibility and P-EBT benefit levels for Summer and SY P-EBT 4.0:
- Data from the California Nutrition Information & Payment System (CNIPS) to identify schools participating in a federal meals program, which includes the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), School Breakfast Program (SBP), and whether a school operated under a Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) or Provision 2 or 3.
- Student enrollment/exit and program data submitted to the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) and maintained in the CALPADS Operational Data Store (ODS).
Additionally, to determine SY benefits, the CDE will use the following data:
- 2022−23 student attendance data submitted to the Independent Study Attendance Collection (ISAC) Reporting System using the CALPADS Student Absence Summary (STAS) file. Specifically, count of days attended in Independent Study (IS) by month and count of excused absence days by month. Note that only attendance data submitted to ISAC will be used to determine attendance in IS and excused absences.
- Data from the California School Directory to identify whether a school is a public virtual school.
Aeries Procedure ↑
To submit this data to the Independent Study Attendance Collection (ISAC) Reporting System using the CALPADS Student Absence Summary (STAS) file, the Attendance History Configuration has been adjusted to add date ranges. The Attendance History Configuration updates the Attendance History (AHS) table. The CALPADS Student Absence Summary (STAS) file uses the Attendance History (AHS) table.
The Independent Study Absence codes for Complete and Incomplete must be configured correctly in the Absent Code table. For more information on setting up the Independent Study Absence codes, see Independent Study Absence and Code Configurations.
LEAs submit the CALPADS Student Absence Summary (STAS) files to the ISAC Reporting System. Data are to be reported for each of the months August 1, 2022 through May 11, 2023, which means a separate file will need to be uploaded for each month.
When LEAs submit the STAS file to the ISAC, the system will apply the same validations that run on the STAS file when it is submitted to CALPADS.
NOTE: For non-hosted customers, ensure you are on the latest Aeries version
Overview of the Process ↑
NOTE: Before running this process it is important to ensure the data is up to date and clean. The following processes and reports should be reviewed:
Below is an overview of the California P-EBT process from Aeries, with detailed instructions to follow:
- Log into Aeries for the 2022-2023 school year. Run the Attendance History Configuration process in Aeries for the specific month date range, ex 8/01/2022 to 8/31/2022. This will update the Attendance History (AHS) table with totals for just the selected date range.
- An email will be sent when the process is finished. Be sure to wait until the process is completed before continuing with the next step.
- Create a CALPADS Student Absence Summary (STAS) file in Aeries from the CALPADS Extracts, EOY tab. Rename the file to add the name of the month.
- Repeat steps 1-3 to create all monthly files required for the submission.
- Log into the Independent Study Attendance Collection (ISAC) Reporting System to submit the monthly files.
This process will need to be completed for each of the months from August 2022 through May 11, 2023. A total of 10 files will need to be submitted to the ISAC Reporting System.
Security ↑
Table | Permission | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Attendance History Configuration (AHS) | Admin User | User must be an Admin User to have access to the Attendance History Configuration page |
| CALPADS Extracts | Admin User or Users with Administer permission to "State Reporting" | Must be an Admin or have the State Reporting Admin permissions to access the CALPADS Extracts page |
Step 1 ↑
From the District or any school, run the Attendance History Configuration process in Aeries for the specific date range, ex 8/01/2022 to 8/31/2022 in the 2022-2023 school year database. This will update the Attendance History (AHS) table with totals for just the selected date range. See Attendance History Configuration.
Running the Attendance History Configuration process in Aeries for the specific date ranges will update the Attendance History (AHS) table with the attendance totals for the selected date range.
After entering the date ranges click on the Update All Schools button to start the process. All schools will be updated regardless of which school the user is logged into.
Step 2 ↑
Wait until the Attendance History Configuration process is completed. An email will be sent when the process is finished. It is important to wait until the process is completed to ensure that the correct attendance totals are included in the Attendance History (AHS) table for the selected date range.
Below is an example of the email that is generated when the process is completed.
Step 3 ↑
Create a CALPADS Student Absence Summary (STAS) file in Aeries from the CALPADS Extracts, EOY tab. After the Attendance History Configuration process is complete the STAS file can be created. The STAS file must be created on the same day as the Attendance History Configuration process, the selected dates will revert back to the default dates for the entire school year.
After the STAS file is created, download it and save it with the month notated in the title of the file. The file will have the date of the day you created the file. Adding the month to the will help keep track of the process.
Example, rename the file from: 2023_05_30_01_27_53_STAS.txt to Aug_2022_05_30_01_27_53_STAS.txt
Step 4 ↑
Repeat Steps 1 - 3 until all files have been created for each month throughout August 2022 - May 11, 2023. Be sure to rename each file to indicate which month it represents. Aug_2022_05_30_01_27_53_STAS.txt
Step 5 ↑
Log into the Independent Study Attendance Collection (ISAC) Reporting System to submit the file. Select the LEA dropdown and the Month to Import.
NOTE: The ISAC Reporting System is officially closed.
NOTE: This process needs to be repeated from for each month that needs to be reported to ISAC. This is a total of 10 months from August 2022 to May 11, 2023. Creating an excel spreadsheet with columns for each step and rows for each month would help to track the process. A spreadsheet has been provided and is attached for users to keep track of the file uploads.