Reimbursement & Funding

Sponsors receive funding for the meals they serve through accurate meal counting and claiming. Additional funding opportunities are available to help sponsors support healthy, nutritious meals and innovative programs.

Meal Counting & Claiming Requirements

Sponsors must accurately count and record each reimbursable meal served to students. Meal counts are used to submit monthly claims for reimbursement and must be based on meals actually served, not prepared. Accurate counting and claiming ensure proper funding and program accountability.

Claims are due 60 days after the end of each month. View claim due dates.

View claim data for your sites using these report instructions.

Submit Accurate Claims

Use these resources to help submit accurate claims:

Reimbursement Rates

Schools receive both federal and state reimbursement for reimbursable meals served. Rates vary by meal type and student eligibility category. Federal reimbursement rates are updated annually by USDA.

Grants & Awards Information

CDE Office of Grants Program Administration is dedicated to enhancing school improvement through federal and state grant opportunities. Education professionals can find detailed information on grants, awards, and other relevant opportunities available through various CDE offices.

Additionally, the Grants and Awards Forecast is updated regularly to reflect current and upcoming funding and award opportunities. Current opportunities, links to specific program information, Requests for Applications, and recorded webinars are available. The forecast also highlights due dates, available funding, and eligibility criteria, as well as contact information for each program.

Competitive Grants and Awards Forecast

Grants Administration Implementation & Navigation System

Other Available Grants and Funding

School Food Authorities (SFAs) are encouraged to apply for grant funding or utilize available funding to support program innovation, expand access to meals and improve program quality. Current funding opportunities are listed below:

Local Food Program

The Local Food Program offers funding to eligible sponsors for the purchase of Colorado grown, raised or processed products. The program has expanded to include all sponsors operating Healthy School Meals for All including individual charter schools, residential childcare institutes and facility schools. Sponsors are eligible to receive $0.25 per lunch served in SY 2024-25 for SY 2026-27.

Consider locally grown, raised, processed and value-added products from Colorado to add to your menus. Build relationships with local farmers, ranchers, and food businesses that supply these items.

The LFP sponsor application is due in GAINS by Friday, May 22, at 4pm.

Local Food Program Technical Assistance and Education Grant Program

All Colorado, statewide non-profit entities are eligible to apply for the Local Food Program Technical Assistance & Education grant. Please see the request for application for program details.

For the 2026–2027 school year, applicants may apply for a grant award of up to $5 million.

The application will open Monday, March 23 in the GAINS system and must be submitted by Friday, May 15 at 5 p.m.

Supply Chain Assistance Funds

Supply chain assistance funds are distributed to school food authorities to purchase unprocessed or minimally processed domestic food products (also referred to as commodities) to help SFAs deal with challenges, such as unanticipated cancellation of food and supply contracts, reduced availability of certain foods, unexpected substitution of certain products, unpredictable increases in food and supply prices, and other obstacles related to pricing and/or availability.

Resources:

Wages and Stipends

The Wages and Stipends grant offers funding to eligible sponsors to provide wage increases and/or stipends to frontline food service workers. Sponsors can expect to receive up to $0.12 per lunch served in School Year 2024-25 for School Year 2026-27.

The application will open in GAINS on Monday, April 6 and close on Thursday, May 28.

Program Resources:

Wages and Stipends RFA
Wages and Stipends Grant FAQ
CDE School Nutrition is hosting virtual office hours to support applicants. Business officials and foodservice directors are encouraged to attend.

USDA Equipment Grant

The School Nutrition Unit competitively awards U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service Equipment Assistance Grants to eligible school food authorities participating in the National School Lunch Program. These funds allow SFAs to:

Serve healthier school meals that meet the meal patterns with emphasis on more fruits and vegetables.
Improve food safety.
Support the establishment, maintenance, or expansion of the School Breakfast Program.

At this time CDE has not been allocated federal funding for the SY25-26 Equipment Assistance Grants. If funding is allocated to CDE, a grant announcement will be provided in The Dish.

For questions, contact Diane Matthews at matthews_d@cde.state.co.us at 720-595-8042.

Grant Opportunities

Recurring funding opportunities and grant writing resources are listed below: