Iowa Guidelines For Free & Reduced Meals

Eligibility guidelines have been set for students receiving free or reduced-price meals in Iowa. Qualifying students will receive free and reduced-price meals under the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Special Milk Program and the Afterschool Care Snack Program, according to a press release issued by the Iowa Department of Education. Households can complete one application listing all children and return it to a child’s school, the release states.

The Iowa Department of Education, Bureau of Nutrition and Health Services, today announced its policy for free and reduced price meals for children unable to pay the full price of meals served under the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program and the Afterschool Care Snack Program.

The program is administered by the Iowa Department of Education, and eligibility is based on family size and income: families at or below 130.0% of the federal poverty level are eligible for free lunch; families between 130.0% and 185.0% of the federal poverty level are eligible for reduced lunch.

The USDA give these guidelines on its website:

The following are the Income Eligibility Guidelines to be effective from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023. The Department's guidelines for free meals and milk and reduced price meals were obtained by multiplying the year 2022 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 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 income 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 4.7 percent over last year's level for a family of the same size.

More information can be found here and by contacting your school administrators.