BILL NUMBER: AB 2395 VETOED DATE: 09/26/2002 SEP 26, 2002 To Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 2395 without my signature. This bill would require a school district that (1) hasn't met its Academic Performance Index (API) growth target, (2) has an API rating at or below 700, (3) has 20% or more low income students and (4) doesn't offer breakfast through the federal school breakfast program, to hold a public hearing at a regularly scheduled meeting to discuss student nutritional needs, the impact of poor nutrition on scholastic achievement and the cost of starting a federal School Breakfast Program, potentially with in existing resources. The bill also requires the Department of Education to give priority in any start-up grants for a school breakfast program to these same schools. I strongly support the school breakfast program which is currently targeted towards low-income students. Start-up funds for good nutritional breakfast should be made available to schools based on the need of their students, not academic performance measures. I'd be pleased to revisit a way to maximize participation by low-income students in the federal school breakfast program unrelated to API scores. For this reason I cannot sign AB 2395. Sincerely, GRAY DAVIS