School Food Service Reimbursement System

By Walter Beesley

The School Food Service Reimbursement System (SFSR) was created for local school districts to submit monthly data for reimbursement via the Internet. The system collects financial data, meal counts, and other information by school. It is then rolled into a district claim form. The legal agent approves the information for payment by the Department of Education. Thereafter, the information is forwarded to the Bureau of Accounts and Control, through automation, for check payment to the districts.

All school districts were required to submit using this method as of July 1^st 1999, and today, 100% of school districts are on-line. This system eliminates reports that were mailed from the Department, and data mailed to the Department for keypunching, under the old system. Reports are now displayed on the Web pages for school officials, auditors, and the interested public; and the data is entered directly into databases. The data is now in a format that allows Maine Department of Education staff to sort data and create reports as needed. Nanci Kittredge and Walter Beesley manage this program, and Nanci administers over 700 user IDs and passwords

The new claim form submittal process got off to a great start. The first month was a new experience for many. Initial unfamiliarity did create some stress among food service staff. To address this, the September claims deadline was extended because of the holiday, and to provide as much help as possible. Some school districts had to rethink their Internet connection to allow food service staff to access this system.

The September claims and application were all due the first of October, the normal deadline being the eighth. The time frame of October 1^st to the 9^th revealed 1,669 users logged on to the system to submit data. The highest user day was the 8^th with 370 users, which represented 22% of the total during this time frame. Many users discovered the flexibility of the program by using it after hours. Five users even logged on during the weekend.

October’s claim forms went much more smoothly for all. During November 1^st to November 9^th 1,483 users logged on. The decrease in numbers from September indicates users had to log on fewer times to correct input errors.

Food service staff is really getting into using this system! They are involved in the testing of changes and some are offering excellent suggestions to further improve SFSR. Step by step instructions have also been developed. The instructions include how to enter data, revise information, receive approvals, and change passwords.

The After School Snack Program was added 12/2/1999 to the production module along with some administrative changes. The program will also collect school enrollment statistics by the end of December, which will eliminate another piece of paper (EFN-70) going back and forth between the Department and the districts via the U.S. mail.

As for saving money, the postal savings for school districts and the Department approximate $2,000 over the 10 months of the school year. Because the SFSR does the computations, math errors (and the long distance telephone calls necessary to correct them) have been essentially eliminated. There are also savings in the cost of paper, envelopes, photocopies, and printing for local and state offices.

The greatest savings to the taxpayers, however is the elimination of the keypuncher’s labor. SFSR replaces a system that required the labor of two people or about 100 hours each of the 10 months during the school year. This is an estimated cost saving of $10,000 per year. Other costs avoided will be cost of the several paper reports filed and mailed each year.

In addition to saving money, we have been receiving positive comments from food service directors. These include "…I think the new filing method is working well. It is much easier and takes less time. Nanci is wonderful support.", "This is great!", and "I love it!" Happy customers, less expensive, publicly accessible, and the ability to sort the data as needed … we at the Department like the new system too!

The public can view SFSR information at http://www.maine.gov/education/sfsr1.htm.

Walter Beesley is a consultant in the Food Service Division of the Department of Education’s Support team. Walter has worked in this field for13 years, and may be reached with questions/comments by e-mailing walter.beesley@state.me.us.