Subject to subsection (b), amounts appropriated to the Department of Defense for the operation of overseas defense dependents’ schools may be used by the Secretary of Defense to enable an overseas meal program to provide students enrolled in such a school with meals at a price equal to the average price paid by students for equivalent meals under a comparable public school meal program in the United States.

The authority provided by subsection (a) may be used only if the Secretary of Defense determines that Federal payments and commodities provided under section 20 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1769b) and section 20 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1789) to support an overseas meal program are insufficient to provide meals under that program at a price for students equal to the average price paid by students for equivalent meals under a comparable public school meal program in the United States.

In determining the average price paid by students in the United States for meals under a school meal program, the Secretary of Defense shall exclude free and reduced price meals provided pursuant to income guidelines.

In this section, the term “overseas meal program” means a program administered by the Secretary of Defense to provide breakfasts or lunches to students attending overseas defense dependents’ schools.