Agriculture Department, Food and Nutrition Service
This rulemaking proposes to expand access to the Community Eligibility Provision by lowering the minimum identified student percentage participation threshold from 40 percent to 25 percent, which would give States and schools greater flexibility to choose to invest non-Federal funds to offer no-cost meals to all enrolled students. As a result, more students, families, and schools would have an opportunity to experience the benefits of the Community Eligibility Provision, including access to meals at no cost, eliminating unpaid meal charges, minimizing stigma, reducing paperwork for school nutrition staff and families, and streamlining meal service operations. When all students have access to healthy school meals, meal participation tends to increase, and more children can experience nutritional benefits that fuel their learning, growth, and development. This proposed rule would also support State and local choices to expand the availability of free school meals for all through programs supported by State or local funding. Lowering the eligibility threshold would allow States and local educational agencies to optimize use of the Community Eligibility Provision, helping them to support school meals in a more streamlined manner.
Document Headings Document headings vary by document type but may contain the following: the agency or agencies that issued and signed a document the number of the CFR title and the number of each part the document amends, proposes to amend, or is directly related to the agency docket number / agency internal file number the RIN which identifies each regulatory action listed in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions See the Document Drafting Handbook for more details. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service 7 CFR Part 245 [FNS-2022-0044] RIN 0584-AE93 ( printed page 17406) AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), USDA. ACTION: Proposed rule; request for comments. SUMMARY: This rulemaking proposes to expand access to the Community Eligibility Provision by lowering the minimum identified student percentage participation threshold from 40 percent to 25 percent, which would give States and schools greater flexibility to choose to invest non-Federal funds to offer no-cost meals to all enrolled students. As a result, more students, families, and schools would have an opportunity to experience the benefits of the Community Eligibility Provision, including access to meals at no cost, eliminating unpaid meal charges, minimizing stigma, reducing paperwork for school nutrition staff and families, and streamlining meal service operations. When all students have access to healthy school meals, meal participation tends to increase, and more children can experience nutritional benefits that fuel their learning, growth, and development. This proposed rule would also support State and local choices to expand the availability of free school meals for all through programs supported by State or local funding. Lowering the eligibility threshold would allow States and local educational agencies to optimize use of the Community Eligibility Provision, helping them to support school meals in a more streamlined manner. DATES: Written comments on this …
Other Federal Register documents from the same docket.
Citation: 88 FR 17406
