President Trump made a commitment to the American people to cut wasteful spending, Make America Healthy Again, and to combat fraud, waste, and abuse—restoring common sense to government. Under the leadership of Secretary Rollins, USDA’s FNS has taken swift and decisive action to be representative of the change the American people voted for.
This page lists the income guidelines for state agencies to use in determining the eligibility of households to receive USDA Foods for home consumption in TEFAP.
The Community Eligibility Provision is a National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program meal service option that allows schools and school districts located in high poverty areas to offer breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students.
The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) resource center provides extensive resources for parents, teachers, and school officials at the local, state and federal levels to better understand CEP and its benefits, along with useful tools to help facilitate successful implementation of the provision.
The net monthly income standard for each household size is the sum of the applicable SNAP net monthly income standard and the applicable SNAP standard deduction.
FNS Handbook 501, Exhibit O shows the FDPIR monthly distribution guide rates by household size effective June 1, 2024. This document is commonly referred to as the "FDPIR Guide Rate."
USDA offers prototypes of school meal applications, as well as sample instructional documents intended to assist state and local officials in the design and distribution of their own application materials.
The Department's annual adjustments to the Income Eligibility Guidelines (IEGs), are used in determining eligibility for free and reduced price meals or free milk.
This TEFAP program guidance memorandum provides information on current flexibilities in distribution procedures that are available for state agencies that administer TEFAP.
School food authorities (SFAs) participating in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs are required to verify income for a small percentage of households approved for free or reduced price meals each school year. However, getting households to respond to verification requests can be challenging for SFA staff. If households do not respond, they lose their benefits regardless of their actual eligibility.