[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 45 Volume 4]

[Revised as of October 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 45CFR1305.4]



[Page 148-149]

 

                        TITLE 45--PUBLIC WELFARE

 

CHAPTER XIII--OFFICE OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH 

                           AND HUMAN SERVICES

 

PART 1305_ELIGIBILITY, RECRUITMENT, SELECTION, ENROLLMENT AND ATTENDANCE IN HEAD START--Table of Contents

 

Sec.  1305.4  Age of children and family income eligibility.



    (a) To be eligible for Head Start services, a child must be at least 

three years old by the date used to determine eligibility for public 

school in the community in which the Head Start program is located, 

except in cases where the Head Start program's approved grant provides 

specific authority to serve younger children. Examples of such 

exceptions are programs serving children of migrant families and Early 

Head Start programs.

    (b)(1) At least 90 percent of the children who are enrolled in each 

Head Start program must be from low-income families.

    (2) Except as provided in paragraph (b)(3) of this section, up to 

ten percent of the children who are enrolled may be children from 

families that exceed the low-income guidelines but who meet the criteria 

that the program has established for selecting such children and who 

would benefit from Head Start services.

    (3) A Head Start program operated by an Indian Tribe may enroll more 

than ten percent of its children from families whose incomes exceed the 

low-income guidelines when the following conditions are met:

    (i) All children from Indian and non-Indian families living on the 

reservation that meet the low-income guidelines who wish to be enrolled 

in Head Start are served by the program;

    (ii) All children from income-eligible Indian families native to the 

reservation living in non-reservation areas, approved as part of the 

Tribe's service area, who wish to be enrolled in Head Start are served 

by the program. In those instances in which the non-reservation area is 

not served by another Head Start program, the Tribe must serve all of 

the income-eligible Indian and non-Indian children whose families wish 

to enroll them in Head Start prior to serving over-income children.

    (iii) The Tribe has the resources within its Head Start grant or 

from other non-Federal sources to enroll children from families whose 

incomes exceed the low-income guidelines without using additional funds 

from HHS intended to expand Head Start services; and

    (iv) At least 51 percent of the children to be served by the program 

are from families that meet the income-eligibility guidelines.

    (4) Programs which meet the conditions of paragraph (b)(3) of this 

section must annually set criteria that are approved by the Policy 

Council and the Tribal Council for selecting over-income children who 

would benefit from such a program.

    (c) The family income must be verified by the Head Start program 

before determining that a child is eligible to participate in the 

program.

    (d) Verification must include examination of any of the following: 

Individual Income Tax Form 1040, W-2 forms, pay stubs, pay envelopes, 

written statements from employers, or documentation showing current 

status as recipients of public assistance.

    (e) A signed statement by an employee of the Head Start program, 

identifying which of these documents was examined and stating that the 

child is eligible to participate in the



[[Page 149]]



program, must be maintained to indicate that income verification has 

been made.



[57 FR 46725, Oct. 9, 1992, as amended at 63 FR 12658, Mar. 16, 1998]