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Start Printed Page 19186
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.
Start Further InfoFOR 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.
End Further Info End Preamble Start Supplemental InformationSUPPLEMENTARY 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 Start Printed Page 19187income 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.
Start SignatureIncome Eligibility Guidelines
[Effective from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009]
Household size Federal poverty guidelines Reduced price meals—185% Free meals—130% Annual Annual Monthly Twice per month Every two weeks Weekly Annual Monthly Twice per month Every two weeks Weekly 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 Dated: April 4, 2008.
Roberto Salazar,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. E8-7475 Filed 4-8-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-30-P
Document Information
- Published:
- 04/09/2008
- Department:
- Food and Nutrition Service
- Entry Type:
- Notice
- Action:
- Notice.
- Document Number:
- E8-7475
- Pages:
- 19186-19187 (2 pages)
- PDF File:
- e8-7475.pdf