Schools improve certification for school lunches

    WASHINGTON (AP) - An Agriculture Department report says schools are generally doing a better job of identifying students who are eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches.
    But the report also notes there’s a wide difference among the states.
    The report to Congress says that in 2008-2009, 78 percent of schools identified eligible students by using government records of households already getting aid. Use of the so-called direct certification method was up 11 percentage points from the previous year. Direct certification helps eliminate lengthy applications.
    The report says the top four states - Alaska, Delaware, New York and Tennessee - directly enrolled more than 90 percent of eligible students.
    But the bottom four - the District of Columbia, Idaho, Missouri and New Hampshire - directly enrolled only 50 percent or fewer.
    A copy of the report was obtained by The Associated Press.

    (Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)