FNS Issues Progress Report on Direct Certification 2018-12-04Under direct certification, instead of a parent or guardian submitting a household National School Lunch Program (NSLP) application, states use computer systems to match records from SNAP and other programs to school enrollment lists to establish NSLP eligibility. A new progress report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service finds that the national percentage of SNAP-participant children directly certified for free school meals was 92 percent in both SY 2015-16 and 2016-17, up from 91 percent in SY 2014-15 and 87 percent in SY 2013-14.