7 CFR 220 - SCHOOL BREAKFAST PROGRAM

The Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service published a final rule in the Federal Register on October 28, 2011 (76 FR 66849), concerning changes to eligibility determinations for free and reduced price school meals to implement nondiscretionary provisions of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004. It also finalized the changes set forth in the interim rule published on November 13, 2007 (72 CFR 63785). This document corrects an amendment to provide additional amendatory language for text that was set out in 7 CFR 245.6(c)(3)(ii). All other information remained unchanged.

This rule finalizes changes to eligibility determinations for free and reduced price school meals to implement nondiscretionary provisions of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004. This rule also finalizes the following changes set forth in the interim rule published on November 13, 2007 (72 FR 63785)—addition of a statutory definition of “local educational agency,” specification that a family only has to submit one application for all children in the household as long as they attend schools in the same local educational agency, and requirements to enhance descriptive materials distributed to families. This rule finalizes requirements for electronically-submitted applications, electronic signatures, and use and disclosure standards for such applications. This rule also finalizes year-long eligibility for free or reduced price school meals, unless the household chooses to decline a level of benefits. These changes are intended to provide children with increased access to the school nutrition programs by simplifying the certification process, streamlining program operations, and improving program management.

This final rule incorporates into the regulations governing the Programs authorized under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (NSLA) and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (CNA) two nondiscretionary provisions of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFK Act). The HHFK Act requires State and local cooperation in Department of Agriculture studies and evaluations related to Programs authorized under the NSLA and the CNA. The HHFK Act also amends the NSLA to stipulate that Federal funds must not be subject to State budget restrictions or limitations, including hiring freezes, work furloughs, and travel restrictions. This final rule amends regulations for the National School Lunch Program; the Special Milk Program for Children; the School Breakfast Program; the Summer Food Service Program; the Child and Adult Care Food Program; State Administrative Expense Funds ; the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children; and the WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program. These provisions will strengthen program integrity by ensuring that sufficient data is made available for studies and evaluations. Additionally, exempting Federal funds from State budgetary restrictions or limitations is intended to increase the ability of State agencies to administer USDA's nutrition assistance programs effectively.

This final rule incorporates into the Child and Adult Care Food Program regulations modifications, clarifications, and technical changes to the two interim rules published by the Department on June 27, 2002 and September 1, 2004. These changes result from over 1,000 public comments received in response to the two interim rules; State agencies' and the Department's experience in implementing the changes in these two rules over several years; and the Department's conduct of an extensive data collection and analysis (the Child Care Assessment Project) designed to evaluate implementation of these two interim rules by family day care home sponsors and providers. This rule clarifies or modifies regulatory provisions relating to: State agency criteria for approving new and renewing institutions' applications; sponsoring organization requirements pertaining to the “block claim” edit check and review averaging; and State- and institution-level requirements pertaining to the serious deficiency process. The changes in this final rule are designed to further improve Program management and integrity and, where possible, to streamline and simplify Program requirements.

This rule amends the regulations affecting the determination of children's eligibility for free meals under the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program by direct certification and categorical eligibility. Conforming changes and miscellaneous technical changes are also made, as appropriate, for the Special Milk Program for Children, the Child and Adult Care Food Program and the Summer Food Service Program. The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 (Reauthorization Act) amended the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require local educational agencies to conduct direct certification in conjunction with the Food Stamp Program, which is now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Under the direct certification process, a local educational agency obtains documentation of a child's receipt of SNAP benefits from the State or local SNAP office. This rule also incorporates provisions from the Reauthorization Act concerning the certification of certain children who are homeless, runaway, or migratory. This rule affects State agencies administering SNAP and the Child Nutrition Programs; local offices administering SNAP; local program operators that administer the School Nutrition Programs; and low income households with school age children. The rule is intended to improve school meal program access for low-income children, reduce paperwork for households and program administrators, and improve the integrity of the free and reduced price meal certification process.

The 2008 Farm Bill amended the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to direct that the Secretary of Agriculture encourage institutions operating Child Nutrition Programs to purchase unprocessed locally grown and locally raised agricultural products. Effective October 1, 2008, institutions receiving funds through the Child Nutrition Programs may apply an optional geographic preference in the procurement of unprocessed locally grown or locally raised agricultural products. This provision applies to institutions in all of the Child Nutrition Programs, including the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, Special Milk Program for Children, Child and Adult Care Food Program and Summer Food Service Program, as well as to purchases made for these programs by the Department of Defense Fresh Program. The provision also applies to State agencies making purchases on behalf of any of the aforementioned Child Nutrition Programs. The purpose of this rule is to finalize the geographic preference option in Child Nutrition Programs.

This document informs the public about a change in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans that affects the proposed rule “Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs” issued by the Department of Agriculture and published in the Federal Register on January 13, 2011. Members of the public are asked to address this change when writing comments on the above referenced rule to assist the Department in updating the school meal patterns and nutrition standards according to the latest dietary recommendations.

This rule proposes to revise the meal patterns and nutrition requirements for the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program to align them with the 2005 “Dietary Guidelines for Americans,” as required by the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act. The proposed changes are based on recommendations from the National Academies' Institute of Medicine set forth in the report “School Meals: Building Blocks for Healthy Children.” This proposed rule would increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat fluid milk in school meals; reduce the levels of sodium and saturated fat in meals; and help meet the nutrition needs of school children within their calorie requirements. Implementation of this proposed rule would result in more nutritious school meals that improve the dietary habits of school children and protect their health.