BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2449
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2449 (Bocanegra)
As Amended May 23, 2014
Majority vote
EDUCATION 5-1 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Buchanan, Chávez, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, |
| |Gonzalez, Nazarian, | |Bradford, |
| |Williams | |Ian Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Eggman, Gomez, Holden, |
| | | |Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Weber |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Olsen |Nays:|Bigelow, Donnelly, Jones, |
| | | |Linder, Wagner |
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SUMMARY : Requires a school district or county office of
education (COE) to ensure that each of the schools in their
respective jurisdictions provides their pupils adequate time to
eat after a meal is served to students, in accordance with the
relevant 2013 guidelines of the California Department of
Education (CDE); and specifies that a school district or COE
shall first use federally or state-regulated nonprofit school
food service cafeteria accounts to defray any costs that are
allowable from that funding source.
EXISTING LAW requires, notwithstanding any other provision of
law, each school district or county superintendent of schools
maintaining any kindergarten or any of grades 1-12, inclusive,
to provide for each needy pupil one nutritionally adequate free
or reduced-price meal during each schoolday, except for family
day care homes that shall be reimbursed for 75% of the meals
served.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, unknown General Fund and Proposition 98 of 1988 state
mandated costs, potentially in the hundreds of thousands. There
are 9,919 schools in California. Cost claims could include
additional equipment and system upgrades, staffing or expanding
the school day to meet an adequate time goal. Actual costs will
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depend on the size and types of claims districts submit to the
Commission on State Mandates to implement this measure.
COMMENTS : The National School Lunch Program is a federally
assisted meal program operating in over 100,000 public and
nonprofit private schools and residential child care
institutions. It provided nutritionally balanced, lowcost or
free lunches to more than 31 million children each school day in
2012. In 1998, Congress expanded the National School Lunch
Program to include reimbursement for snacks served to children
in afterschool educational and enrichment programs to include
children through 18 years of age. The Food and Nutrition
Service administers the program at the federal level. At the
state level, the National School Lunch Program is usually
administered by state education agencies, which operate the
program through agreements with school food authorities. In
California, the CDE administers the program. With regard to
adequate time to eat school meals, the CDE, in the 2006, report
"School Nutrition? by Design," specifies that one strategy for
increasing student participation in school lunch is, "scheduling
sufficient time to enable students to eat after being served-no
less than 10 minutes for breakfast and no less than 20 minutes
for lunch."
According to the author, "California's State Meal Mandate dates
back to the Child Nutrition Facilities Act of 1975. In
recognition of the link between nutrition, health, and academic
success, the meal mandate requires public schools to provide a
nutritious, free or reduced-price meal to each needy student
every school day. In recent years, numerous legislative
actions, both state and federal, have improved the nutritional
quality of school meals. Lunch periods provide a much-needed
time for students to take a break and refuel their bodies. For
many low-income students, school lunch may be the most
nutritious meal of the day. However, California students
frequently miss out on the full benefits of school lunch because
they don't have enough time to eat. Time pressures at lunch can
result in food waste and poor nutrition. The CDE recommends that
students have 20 minutes to eat after receiving their lunches,
but many schools are not meeting that recommendation. A 2013
CDE survey of over 1,000 school principals found that only 24.9%
of elementary schools and 8.2% of middle and high schools had
policies at the site or district level specifying an amount of
time that students have to eat. When asked to estimate the
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amount of time the last student in line has to eat during the
lunch period, only 28.1% of elementary principals and 44.8% of
middle and high school principals reported that they were
provided at least 20 minutes to eat."
Further the author argues, "AB 2449 would improve student
nutrition, reduce food waste and support student learning.
Research shows that providing enough time to eat may encourage
students to eat more of the foods that are often under-consumed
and nutritionally beneficial, such as fruits, vegetables, and
milk. School lunches bring health and academic benefits to
students while drawing additional federal funds into California
in the form of per-meal reimbursements. AB 2449 would more
efficiently spend resources that support school lunches. These
funds can be used to improve school meal programs, purchase
higher-quality food, and support local jobs. The Legislature has
already established the requirement that schools provide
students with nutritious school lunches. However, legislative
action is needed to ensure that students have enough time to eat
the meals provided during the lunch period. Adding this element
in statute will allow CDE to define adequate time in regulations
and to develop different options for schools to consider as they
work to ensure every student has time to eat lunch."
Charter Schools: While charter schools are not required to
provide school meals, some choose to provide school lunch. The
Assembly may wish to consider whether to include charter
schools, which currently choose to provide school lunch, in this
requirement.
Analysis Prepared by : Chelsea Kelley / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0003726