[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 67 (Monday, April 10, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17182-17185]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-07043]
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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, 2017 through June 30, 2018. 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 July 1, 2017.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jessica Saracino, Program Monitoring
and Operational Support Division, Child Nutrition Programs, Food and
Nutrition Service, United States Department of Agriculture, 3101 Park
Center Drive, Suite 628, Alexandria, Virginia 22302, 703-305-1620.
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 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 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, continues to mean
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
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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, 2017 through June 30, 2018. The Department's guidelines
for free meals and milk and reduced price meals were obtained by
multiplying the year 2017 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 1.2 percent over last year's level for a
family of the same size.
Authority: Section 9(b)(1)(A) 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] TN10AP17.001
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Dated: March 28, 2017.
Jessica Shahin,
Acting Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of
Agriculture.
[FR Doc. 2017-07043 Filed 4-7-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-30-C