Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 34 (Tuesday, February 20, 2024)

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 34 (Tuesday, February 20, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12812-12814]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-03355]

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

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, free milk, and Summer Electronic
Benefit Transfer benefits for the period from July 1, 2024 through June
30, 2025. 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. Beginning in 2024, they will also be used by
States and Indian Tribal Organizations that administer the Summer
Electronic Benefits Transfer for

[[Page 12813]]

Children 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: Applicable July 1, 2024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Penny Burke, 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, 303-844-0357.

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://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), 13A(h)(2), and 17(c)(4) of the
Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(1), 42
U.S.C. 1762(h)(2), 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), Child and Adult Care Food Program (7
CFR part 226), free milk in the Special Milk Program for Children (7
CFR part 215), and program benefits in the Summer EBT Program (7 CFR
part 292). 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, free
milk, and Summer EBT benefits 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, milk, or EBT benefits 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, 2024 through June 30, 2025. The Department's guidelines
for free meals and milk and reduced price meals were obtained by
multiplying the year 2024 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 4.0 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)).

Income Eligibility Guidelines
[Effective from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
48 Contiguous States, District of Columbia, Guam, and Territories
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1............................ 15,060 27,861 2,322 1,161 1,072 536 19,578 1,632 816 753 377
2............................ 20,440 37,814 3,152 1,576 1,455 728 26,572 2,215 1,108 1,022 511
3............................ 25,820 47,767 3,981 1,991 1,838 919 33,566 2,798 1,399 1,291 646

[[Page 12814]]

4............................ 31,200 57,720 4,810 2,405 2,220 1,110 40,560 3,380 1,690 1,560 780
5............................ 36,580 67,673 5,640 2,820 2,603 1,302 47,554 3,963 1,982 1,829 915
6............................ 41,960 77,626 6,469 3,235 2,986 1,493 54,548 4,546 2,273 2,098 1,049
7............................ 47,340 87,579 7,299 3,650 3,369 1,685 61,542 5,129 2,565 2,367 1,184
8............................ 52,720 97,532 8,128 4,064 3,752 1,876 68,536 5,712 2,856 2,636 1,318
For each add'l family member, 5,380 9,953 830 415 383 192 6,994 583 292 269 135
add.........................
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alaska
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1............................ 18,810 2,900 1,450 1,339 670 24,453 2,038 1,019 941 471
2............................ 25,540 47,249 3,938 1,969 1,818 909 33,202 2,767 1,384 1,277 639
3............................ 32,270 59,700 4,975 2,488 2,297 1,149 41,951 3,496 1,748 1,614 807
4............................ 39,000 72,150 6,013 3,007 2,775 1,388 50,700 4,225 2,113 1,950 975
5............................ 45,730 84,601 7,051 3,526 3,254 1,627 59,449 4,955 2,478 2,287 1,144
6............................ 52,460 97,051 8,088 4,044 3,733 1,867 68,198 5,684 2,842 2,623 1,312
7............................ 59,190 109,502 9,126 4,563 4,212 2,106 76,947 6,413 3,207 2,960 1,480
8............................ 65,920 121,952 10,163 5,082 4,691 2,346 3,571 3,296 1,648
For each add'l family member, 6,730 12,451 1,038 519 479 240 8,749 730 365 337 169
add.........................
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hawaii
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1............................ 17,310 32,024 2,669 1,335 1,232 616 22,503 1,876 938 866 433
2............................ 23,500 43,475 3,623 1,812 1,673 837 30,550 2,546 1,273 1,175 588
3............................ 29,690 54,927 4,578 2,289 2,113 1,057 38,597 3,217 1,609 1,485 743
4............................ 35,880 66,378 5,532 2,766 2,553 1,277 46,644 3,887 1,944 1,794 897
5............................ 42,070 77,830 6,486 3,243 2,994 1,497 54,691 4,558 2,279 2,104 1,052
6............................ 48,260 89,281 7,441 3,721 3,434 1,717 62,738 5,229 2,615 2,413 1,207
7............................ 54,450 100,733 8,395 4,198 3,875 1,938 70,785 5,899 2,950 2,723 1,362
8............................ 60,640 112,184 9,349 4,675 4,315 2,158 78,832 6,570 3,285 3,032 1,516
For each add'l family member, 6,190 11,452 955 478 441 221 8,047 671 336 310 155
add.........................
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cynthia Long,
Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-03355 Filed 2-16-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-30-P