27% OF CHILDREN IN FREE LUNCH PROGRAMS MAY BE INELIGIBLE.Byline: - Staff and Wire Services More than one-fourth of the 28 million children who eat free or discounted school lunches might be ineligible, and the Bush administration is considering rules to reserve the meal programs for children of families who prove their low incomes. The number of children enrolled in the program nationwide exceeds the number of low-income families who would be eligible for it, based on a comparison of the school lunch enrollment figures with an annual survey by the Census Bureau Noun 1. Census Bureau - the bureau of the Commerce Department responsible for taking the census; provides demographic information and analyses about the population of the United States Bureau of the Census , said Jean Daniel Jean Daniel, (né Jean Daniel Bensaid) is an Algerian-born French jew (1920-) and a journalist. He is the founder and executive editor of Le Nouvel Observateur weekly. He wrote La Prison juive (2003: Editions Odile Jacob), translated in English. , an Agriculture Department spokeswoman. Officials have calculated that as many as 27 percent of children now getting free or reduced-price meals are ineligible, she said. Should the estimate be correct, the government may have spent about $1.8 billion last year buying lunches for children whose family income would have disqualified dis·qual·i·fy tr.v. dis·qual·i·fied, dis·qual·i·fy·ing, dis·qual·i·fies 1. a. To render unqualified or unfit. b. To declare unqualified or ineligible. 2. them. The Agriculture Department spent $6.8 billion on school lunches last year. Eric Bost, the department's undersecretary for food and nutrition Food and Nutrition See also cheese; dining; milk. accubation Rare. the act or habit of reclining at meals. alimentology Medicine. thescience of nutrition. allotriophagy Pathology. , said he thinks the 27 percent estimate of ineligibility is too high, but that the problem is significant. Jim Weill, president of a Washington advocacy group, the Food Research and Action Center, said a tougher verification process would scare away Verb 1. scare away - cause to lose courage; "dashed by the refusal" daunt, frighten away, frighten off, scare off, pall, scare, dash intimidate, restrain - to compel or deter by or as if by threats families of children whose low incomes would qualify. He said he suspects the problem is that some children who qualify for discount-priced lunches are instead getting free ones. Under current program guidelines, children in a family of four with an income of less than $23,530 a year qualify for free lunches. Children in a four-member family with a total annual income less than $33,485 qualify for reduced-price meals, costing up to 40 cents per lunch. Many schools now approve children for free and reduced-price lunches based solely on applications in which parents self-report monthly income and household size. Some also use as criteria whether families are on food stamps or are on temporary assistance for needy families Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF, often pronounced "TAN-if") is the July 1, 1997, successor to the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, providing cash assistance to indigent American families with dependent children through the United States Department of , a welfare program. The Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. , where 67 percent of the system's 746,800 students qualify for free and discounted meals, already uses direct certification. |
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