To be eligible to operate CEP, a school or group of schools within a district must have an Identified Student Percentage (ISP) of 40% or higher. To calculate ISP, a school must count all of the students who are categorically eligible for free school meals and divide by total student enrollment.

The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is a non-pricing meal service option for schools and school districts in low-income areas. CEP allows the nation's highest poverty schools and districts to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students without collecting household applications