Rule2025-10340
National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program: Elimination of the State Ameliorative Action Reporting Requirement for School Meals Eligibility Verification
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
June 6, 2025
Effective
June 6, 2025
Issuing agencies
Agriculture DepartmentFood and Nutrition Service
Abstract
This rule rescinds an unnecessary reporting requirement for the school meals application verification process.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 108 (Friday, June 6, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 108 (Friday, June 6, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 24049-24050]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-10340]
[[Page 24049]]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food and Nutrition Service
7 CFR Part 245
[Docket No. FNS-2025-0008]
RIN 0584-AF08
National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program:
Elimination of the State Ameliorative Action Reporting Requirement for
School Meals Eligibility Verification
AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), Department of Agriculture
(USDA).
ACTION: Interim final rule.
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SUMMARY: This rule rescinds an unnecessary reporting requirement for
the school meals application verification process.
DATES:
Effective date: This rule is effective on June 6, 2025.
Comment date: Comments must be received by July 7, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Comments can be submitted through the Federal e-rulemaking
portal at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> and should reference the document
number and the date and page number of this issue of the Federal
Register. FNS strongly prefers comments be submitted electronically.
However, written comments may be submitted (i.e., postmarked) via mail
to Docket No. FNS-2025-0008, FNS, USDA, 1320 Braddock Place,
Alexandria, VA 22314. All comments submitted in response to this notice
of interim final rulemaking will be included in the record and will be
made available to the public.
Please be advised that the identity of individuals or entities
submitting comments will be made public on the internet at the address
provided above. Parties who wish to comment anonymously may do so by
entering ``N/A'' in the fields that would identify the commenter. A
plain language summary of this notice of interim final rule is
available at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> in the docket for this
rulemaking.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James C. Miller, Administrator, Food
and Nutrition Service, at (703) 305-2060, or <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#652f040800164b280c0909001725101601044b020a13"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="773d161a1204593a1e1b1b1205370204131659101801">[email protected]</span></a> with
a subject line of ``RIN 0584-AF15''.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In school year 2023-2024, school districts
approved 1.52 million applications for free or reduced-price school
meals. Each year, school districts must verify a sample of those
applications for certification error, i.e., errors made in determining
a household's eligibility for free or reduced-price meal benefits.
Additionally, current regulations (7 CFR 245.12(i)). require State
education agencies to report to FNS any ameliorative actions that they
have taken or intend to take in local educational agencies with high
levels of applications changed due to verification.
Review and verification of school meals applications is an
important oversight and corrective action process required under
Federal law, and consistent with Agriculture Secretary Rollins's
priorities to protect both program participants and taxpayers, and to
minimize the risk of program abuse. USDA has not made changes to the
annual requirement to conduct verification or report verification
outcomes to USDA. Nor does USDA change the requirement that states
analyze annual verification outcomes to identify any potential problems
and the appropriate corrective action. USDA is eliminating only the
annual reporting of corrective actions taken or proposed in response to
this analysis.
The ameliorative action reporting requirement included in paragraph
245.12(i) is an unnecessary burden on program operators. Consistent
with Executive Order 14192, ``Unleashing Prosperity through
Deregulation,'' FNS rescinds the reporting requirement for ameliorative
action. To the extent there is any uncertainty about the costs and
benefits of the 7 CFR 245.12(i) regulations, it is the policy of USDA
to err on the side of deregulation. USDA's limited resources should be
focused on fairly and rationally enforcing a discrete and manageable
number of regulations.
Procedural Matters
Executive Orders 12866 and 13563
Under Executive Order 12866, as amended by Executive Orders 14215
and 13563, agencies must assess all costs and benefits of available
regulatory alternatives and, if regulation is necessary, select
regulatory approaches that maximize net benefits. The Office of
Management and Budget's (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs has determined that this regulatory action is not significant
and, therefore, is not subject to OMB review.
Regulatory Flexibility Act
Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601-612) (as amended
by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996; 5
U.S.C. 601 et seq.), agencies must prepare and make available for
public comment a regulatory flexibility analysis that describes the
effect of the rule on small entities (i.e., small businesses, small
organizations, and small government jurisdictions). FNS has concluded
and hereby certifies that this rule will not have a significant
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
This rule does not contain Federal mandates (under the regulatory
provisions of Title II of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA)) for
State, local, and Tribal governments, or the private sector of $100
million or more in any one year. Thus, the rule is not subject to the
requirements of sections 202 and 205 of the UMRA.
Executive Order 13175
Executive Order 13175 requires Federal agencies to consult and
coordinate with Tribes on a government-to-government basis on policies
that have Tribal implications, including regulations, legislative
comments or proposed legislation, and other policy statements or
actions that have substantial direct effects on one or more Indian
Tribes, on the relationship between the Federal Government and Indian
Tribes, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities between
the Federal Government and Indian Tribes. As this rule is purely
deregulatory, FNS has assessed the impact of this rule on Indian tribes
and determined that this rule would not have Tribal implications that
require consultation under Executive Order 13175.
Paperwork Reduction Act
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.
3501-3520), an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not
required to respond to, a collection of information, unless the
collection displays a currently valid OMB control number. This rule is
deregulatory and so would not impose any additional information
collection requirements; rather, it would reduce future collection
requirements by removing reporting burdens. Specifically, the changes
in this rule will remove the ameliorative action reporting part of the
requirement currently under OMB Control Number 0584-0594 to report on
the results of verification reviews. That collection shows 40 hours of
total burden for 57 respondents. This interim final rule will reduce
burden by a portion of that amount. USDA will revise this collection to
reflect this burden reduction as part of its next renewal of 0584-0594.
[[Page 24050]]
E-Government Act Compliance
The Department is committed to complying with the E-Government Act,
2002 to promote the use of the internet and other information
technologies to provide increased opportunities for citizen access to
Government information and services, and for other purposes.
Executive Order 13132; Federalism Summary Impact Statement
The rule is deregulatory and has little effect on States and local
governments, so FNS anticipates that this rule will not have
implications for federalism. Therefore, under section 6(b) of the
Executive order, a federalism summary is not required.
List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 245
Civil rights, Food assistance programs, Grant programs--education,
Grant programs--health, Infants and children, Milk, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements, School breakfast and lunch programs.
Accordingly, 7 CFR part 245 is amended as follows:
PART 245--DETERMINING ELIGIBILITY FOR FREE AND REDUCED PRICE MEALS
AND FREE MILK IN SCHOOLS
0
1. The authority citation for part 245 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 1752, 1758, 1759a, 1772, 1773, and 1779.
Sec. 245.12 Action by State agencies and FNSROs.
0
2. Amend Sec. 245.12 by revising paragraph (i) to read as follows:
* * * * *
(i) No later than February 1, 2013, and by February 1st each year
thereafter, each State agency must collect annual verification data
from each local educational agency as described in Sec. 245.6a(h).
Each State agency must analyze these data, determine if there are
potential problems, and formulate corrective actions and technical
assistance activities that will support the objective of certifying
only those children eligible for free or reduced price meals. No later
than March 15, 2013, and by March 15th each year thereafter, each State
agency must report to FNS, in a consolidated electronic file by local
educational agency, the verification information that has been reported
to it as required under Sec. 245.6a(h). State agencies are encouraged
to collect and report any or all verification data elements before the
required dates.
James C. Miller,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2025-10340 Filed 6-5-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-30-P
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