[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 69 (Wednesday, April 9, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19186-19187]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-7475]


 ========================================================================
 Notices
                                                 Federal Register
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
 or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings 
 and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings, 
 delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency 
 statements of organization and functions are examples of documents 
 appearing in this section.
 
 ========================================================================
 

  Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 69 / Wednesday, April 9, 2008 / 
Notices  

[[Page 19186]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food and Nutrition Service


Child Nutrition Programs--Income Eligibility Guidelines

AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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, 2008 through June 30, 2009. 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: Effective Date: July 1, 2008.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Robert M. Eadie, Chief, Policy and 
Program Development Branch, Child Nutrition Division, FNS, USDA, 
Alexandria, Virginia 22302, or by phone at (703) 305-2590.

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 new 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 
reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget in conformance with 
Executive Order 12866.
    These programs are listed in the Catalog of Federal Domestic 
Assistance 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 7 CFR Part 3015, Subpart V, and the final rule related 
notice published at 48 FR 29114, June 24, 1983.)

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 Guidance for School Meals 
Manual, ``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, 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, 2008 through June 30, 2009. The Department's guidelines 
for free meals and milk and reduced price meals were obtained by 
multiplying the year 2008 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 figures 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

[[Page 19187]]

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 2.7% over last year's level for a family of 
the same size.

                                                              Income Eligibility Guidelines
                                                     [Effective from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                 Federal               Reduced price meals--185%                           Free meals--130%
                                                 poverty  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Household size                 guidelines                        Twice     Every                                   Twice   Every
                                              ------------  Annual    Monthly     per       two     Weekly    Annual    Monthly     per     two   Weekly
                                                 Annual                          month     weeks                                   month   weeks
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                            48 Contiguous States, District of Columbia, Guam, and Territories
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1............................................     10,400     19,240     1,604       802       740       370    13,520     1,127       564  520    260
2............................................     14,000     25,900     2,159     1,080       997       499    18,200     1,517       759  700    350
3............................................     17,600     32,560     2,714     1,357     1,253       627    22,880     1,907       954  880    440
4............................................     21,200     39,220     3,269     1,635     1,509       755    27,560     2,297     1,149  1,060  530
5............................................     24,800     45,880     3,824     1,912     1,765       883    32,240     2,687     1,344  1,240  620
6............................................     28,400     52,540     4,379     2,190     2,021     1,011    36,920     3,077     1,539  1,420  710
7............................................     32,000     59,200     4,934     2,467     2,277     1,139    41,600     3,467     1,734  1,600  800
8............................................     35,600     65,860     5,489     2,745     2,534     1,267    46,280     3,857     1,929  1,780  890
For each add'l family member, add............      3,600      6,660       555       278       257       129     4,680       390       195  180     90
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                         Alaska
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1............................................     13,000     24,050     2,005     1,003       925       463    16,900     1,409       705  650    325
2............................................     17,500     32,375     2,698     1,349     1,246       623    22,750     1,896       948  875    438
3............................................     22,000     40,700     3,392     1,696     1,566       783    28,600     2,384     1,192  1,100  550
4............................................     26,500     49,025     4,086     2,043     1,886       943    34,450     2,871     1,436  1,325  663
5............................................     31,000     57,350     4,780     2,390     2,206     1,103    40,300     3,359     1,680  1,550  775
6............................................     35,500     65,675     5,473     2,737     2,526     1,263    46,150     3,846     1,923  1,775  888
7............................................     40,000     74,000     6,167     3,084     2,847     1,424    52,000     4,334     2,167  2,000  1,000
8............................................     44,500     82,325     6,861     3,431     3,167     1,584    57,850     4,821     2,411  2,225  1,113
For each add'l family member, add............      4,500      8,325       694       347       321       161     5,850       488       244  225    113
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                         Hawaii
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1............................................     11,960     22,126     1,844       922       851       426    15,548     1,296       648  598    299
2............................................     16,100     29,785     2,483     1,242     1,146       573    20,930     1,745       873  805    403
3............................................     20,240     37,444     3,121     1,561     1,441       721    26,312     2,193     1,097  1,012  506
4............................................     24,380     45,103     3,759     1,880     1,735       868    31,694     2,642     1,321  1,219  610
5............................................     28,520     52,762     4,397     2,199     2,030     1,015    37,076     3,090     1,545  1,426  713
6............................................     32,660     60,421     5,036     2,518     2,324     1,162    42,458     3,359     1,770  1,633  817
7............................................     36,800     68,080     5,674     2,837     2,619     1,310    47,840     3,987     1,994  1,840  920
8............................................     40,940     75,739     6,312     3,156     2,914     1,457    53,222     4,436     2,218  2,047  1,024
For each add'l family member, add............      4,140      7,659       639       320       295       148     5,382       449       225  207    104
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(1).

    Dated: April 4, 2008.
Roberto Salazar,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. E8-7475 Filed 4-8-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-30-P