Child Nutrition Programs: Income Eligibility Guidelines
| Published date | 20 March 2020 |
| Citation | 85 FR 16050 |
| Record Number | 2020-05982 |
| Section | Notices |
| Court | Food And Nutrition Service |
Federal Register, Volume 85 Issue 55 (Friday, March 20, 2020)
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 55 (Friday, March 20, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16050-16053]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-05982]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food and Nutrition Service
Child Nutrition Programs: Income Eligibility Guidelines
AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces the Department's annual adjustments to
the Income Eligibility Guidelines to be used in determining eligibility
for free and reduced price meals and free milk for the period from July
1, 2020 through June 30, 2021. These guidelines are used by schools,
institutions, and facilities participating in the National School Lunch
Program (and Commodity School Program), School Breakfast Program,
Special Milk Program for Children, Child and Adult Care Food Program
and Summer Food Service Program. The annual adjustments are required by
section 9 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act. The
guidelines are intended to direct benefits to those children most in
need and are revised annually to account for changes in the Consumer
Price Index.
DATES: Implementation July 1, 2020.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: J. Kevin Maskornick, Program
Monitoring and Operational Support Division, Child Nutrition Programs,
Food and Nutrition Service, United States Department of Agriculture,
1320 Braddock Place, Suite 401, Alexandria, Virginia 22314.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This action is not a rule as defined by the
Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601-612) and thus is exempt from
the provisions of that Act.
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.
3507), no recordkeeping or reporting requirements have been included
that are subject to approval from the Office of Management and Budget.
This notice has been determined to be not significant and was not
reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget in conformance with
Executive Order 12866. The affected programs are listed in the
Assistance Listings (https://beta.sam.gov/) under No. 10.553, No.
10.555, No. 10.556, No. 10.558, and No. 10.559 and are subject to the
provisions of Executive Order 12372, which requires intergovernmental
consultation with State and local officials. (See 2 CFR part 415).
Background
Pursuant to sections 9(b)(1) and 17(c)(4) of the Richard B. Russell
National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(1) and 42 U.S.C.
1766(c)(4)), and sections 3(a)(6) and 4(e)(1)(A) of the Child Nutrition
Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1772(a)(6) and 1773(e)(1)(A)), the Department
annually issues the Income Eligibility Guidelines for free and reduced
price meals for the National School Lunch Program (7 CFR part 210), the
Commodity School Program (7 CFR part 210), School Breakfast Program (7
CFR part 220), Summer Food Service Program (7 CFR part 225) and Child
and Adult Care Food Program (7 CFR part 226) and the guidelines for
free milk in the Special Milk Program for Children (7 CFR part 215).
These eligibility guidelines are based on the Federal income poverty
guidelines and are stated by household size. The guidelines are used to
determine eligibility for free and reduced price meals and free milk in
accordance with applicable program rules.
Definition of Income
In accordance with the Department's policy as provided in the Food
and Nutrition Service publication Eligibility Manual for School Meals,
``income,'' as the term is used in this notice, means income before any
deductions such as income taxes, Social Security taxes, insurance
premiums, charitable contributions, and bonds. It includes the
following: (1) Monetary compensation for services, including wages,
salary, commissions or fees; (2) net income from nonfarm self-
employment; (3) net income from farm self-employment; (4) Social
Security; (5) dividends or interest on savings or bonds or income from
estates or trusts; (6) net rental income; (7) public assistance or
welfare payments; (8) unemployment compensation; (9) government
civilian employee or military retirement, or pensions or veterans
payments; (10) private pensions or annuities; (11) alimony or child
support payments; (12) regular contributions from persons not living in
the household; (13) net royalties; and (14) other cash income. Other
cash income would include cash amounts received or withdrawn from any
source including savings,
[[Page 16051]]
investments, trust accounts and other resources that would be available
to pay the price of a child's meal.
``Income'', as the term is used in this notice, does not include
any income or benefits received under any Federal programs that are
excluded from consideration as income by any statutory prohibition.
Furthermore, the value of meals or milk to children shall not be
considered as income to their households for other benefit programs in
accordance with the prohibitions in section 12(e) of the Richard B.
Russell National School Lunch Act and section 11(b) of the Child
Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1760(e) and 1780(b)).
The Income Eligibility Guidelines
The following are the Income Eligibility Guidelines to be effective
from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021. The Department's guidelines
for free meals and milk and reduced price meals were obtained by
multiplying the year 2020 Federal income poverty guidelines by 1.30 and
1.85, respectively, and by rounding the result upward to the next whole
dollar.
This notice displays only the annual Federal poverty guidelines
issued by the Department of Health and Human Services because the
monthly and weekly Federal poverty guidelines are not used to determine
the Income Eligibility Guidelines. The chart details the free and
reduced price eligibility criteria for monthly income, income received
twice monthly (24 payments per year); income received every two weeks
(26 payments per year) and weekly income.
Income calculations are made based on the following formulas:
Monthly income is calculated by dividing the annual income by 12; twice
monthly income is computed by dividing annual income by 24; income
received every two weeks is calculated by dividing annual income by 26;
and weekly income is computed by dividing annual income by 52. All
numbers are rounded upward to the next whole dollar. The numbers
reflected in this notice for a family of four in the 48 contiguous
States, the District of Columbia, Guam and the territories represent an
increase of 1.7 percent over last year's level for a family of the same
size.
Authority: Section 9(b)(1) of the Richard B. Russell National
School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(1)(A)).
BILLING CODE 3410-30-P
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[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN20MR20.007
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Dated: February 24, 2020.
Pamilyn Miller,
Administrator, USDA Food and Nutrition Service.
[FR Doc. 2020-05982 Filed 3-19-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-30-C
