[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 89 (Tuesday, May 8, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20788-20789]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-09679]


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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, 2018 through June 30, 2019. 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 Date: July 1, 2018.

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.

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, 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, 2018 through June 30, 2019. The Department's guidelines 
for free meals and milk and reduced price meals were obtained by 
multiplying the year 2018 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 2.0 percent over last year's level for a 
family of the same size.


[[Page 20789]]


    Authority: Section 9(b)(1) of the Richard B. Russell National 
School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(1)(A)).

                                                              Income Eligibility Guidelines
                                                     [Effective from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019]
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                                 Federal                  Reduced Price Meals--185%                                   Free Meals--130%
                                 poverty   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Household size          guidelines
                              -------------   Annual    Monthly   Twice per  Every two    Weekly     Annual    Monthly   Twice per  Every two    Weekly
                                  Annual                            month      weeks                                       month      weeks
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                                            48 Contiguous States, District of Columbia, Guam, and Territories
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1............................       12,140     22,459      1,872        936        864        432     15,782      1,316        658        607        304
2............................       16,460     30,451      2,538      1,269      1,172        586     21,398      1,784        892        823        412
3............................       20,780     38,443      3,204      1,602      1,479        740     27,014      2,252      1,126      1,039        520
4............................       25,100     46,435      3,870      1,935      1,786        893     32,630      2,720      1,360      1,255        628
5............................       29,420     54,427      4,536      2,268      2,094      1,047     38,246      3,188      1,594      1,471        736
6............................       33,740     62,419      5,202      2,601      2,401      1,201     43,862      3,656      1,828      1,687        844
7............................       38,060     70,411      5,868      2,934      2,709      1,355     49,478      4,124      2,062      1,903        952
8............................       42,380     78,403      6,534      3,267      3,016      1,508     55,094      4,592      2,296      2,119      1,060
For each add'l family member,        4,320      7,992        666        333        308        154      5,616        468        234        216        108
 add.........................
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                                                                         Alaska
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1............................       15,180     28,083      2,341      1,171      1,081        541     19,734      1,645        823        759        380
2............................       20,580     38,073      3,173      1,587      1,465        733     26,754      2,230      1,115      1,029        515
3............................       25,980     48,063      4,006      2,003      1,849        925     33,774      2,815      1,408      1,299        650
4............................       31,380     58,053      4,838      2,419      2,233      1,117     40,794      3,400      1,700      1,569        785
5............................       36,780     68,043      5,671      2,836      2,618      1,309     47,814      3,985      1,993      1,839        920
6............................       42,180     78,033      6,503      3,252      3,002      1,501     54,834      4,570      2,285      2,109      1,055
7............................       47,580     88,023      7,336      3,668      3,386      1,693     61,854      5,155      2,578      2,379      1,190
8............................       52,980     98,013      8,168      4,084      3,770      1,885     68,874      5,740      2,870      2,649      1,325
For each add'l family member,        5,400      9,990        833        417        385        193      7,020        585        293        270        135
 add.........................
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                                                                         Hawaii
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1............................       13,960     25,826      2,153      1,077        994        497     18,148      1,513        757        698        349
2............................       18,930     35,021      2,919      1,460      1,347        674     24,609      2,051      1,026        947        474
3............................       23,900     44,215      3,685      1,843      1,701        851     31,070      2,590      1,295      1,195        598
4............................       28,870     53,410      4,451      2,226      2,055      1,028     37,531      3,128      1,564      1,444        722
5............................       33,840     62,604      5,217      2,609      2,408      1,204     43,992      3,666      1,833      1,692        846
6............................       38,810     71,799      5,984      2,992      2,762      1,381     50,453      4,205      2,103      1,941        971
7............................       43,780     80,993      6,750      3,375      3,116      1,558     56,914      4,743      2,372      2,189      1,095
8............................       48,750     90,188      7,516      3,758      3,469      1,735     63,375      5,282      2,641      2,438      1,219
For each add'l family member,        4,970      9,195        767        384        354        177      6,461        539        270        249        125
 add.........................
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     Dated: April 18, 2018.
Brandon Lipps,
Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service.
[FR Doc. 2018-09679 Filed 5-7-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3410-30-P