BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 302
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 26, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
SB 302 (Cannella) - As Amended: May 28, 2013
SENATE VOTE : 38-0
SUBJECT : School cafeterias: cafeteria fund
SUMMARY : Makes various changes related to the oversight of
school district cafeteria funds. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires cafeteria fund expenditures to be part of the annual
financial and compliance audit.
2)Requires school districts to maintain all financial records
related to its cafeteria fund for five years.
3)Clarifies that school districts are not authorized to charge a
food service program any charge prohibited by state or federal
law or regulation or guidance.
4)Prohibits a school district from withholding from its food
service director any financial records involving school
nutrition programs.
5)Deletes the authorization for a school district to establish
and maintain a cafeteria fund reserve to purchase, lease,
maintain, or replace cafeteria equipment and to enter into a
revenue sharing agreement with the associated student body.
6)Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to do
the following:
a) Assess its food services workload and staffing needs for
purposes of carrying out the state's oversight
responsibilities in accordance with federal law and
regulations adopted by the United States Department of
Agriculture and request sufficient federal funding to hire
the appropriate number of staff based on that assessment;
b) Prepare simplified guidelines that address most of the
common acceptable and unacceptable charges to cafeteria
funds;
SB 302
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c) Post on its Internet Web site all enforcement actions
for the misappropriation of cafeteria funds.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : This bill implements recommendations of a February
6, 2013 report from the California Senate Office of Oversight
and Outcomes entitled, "Food Fight: Small Team of State
Examiners No Match for Schools that Divert Student Meal Funds."
The report is based on CDE compliance reviews of the use of
cafeteria funds, which found several instances of illegal
expenditures. The report makes the following findings:
1)The CDE has fewer than 60 field examiners to monitor nearly
3,000 school districts and other agencies that serve meals and
has not completed all of the reviews required in any single
year since 2001.
2)The field examiners the CDE sends are nutritionists, not
accountants or financial specialists, and they rarely take
more than a cursory look at the books.
3)Existing rules requires school districts to maintain financial
records for three years, but reviews are done every five
years, so two years are not subject to review.
4)Nearly all of the cafeteria fund cases the state has pressed
in recent years were instigated by whistleblowers, not the
state's examiners.
5)Some districts report that guidelines regarding allowable
cafeteria fund charges are not always clear.
As a result of these findings:
"The Senate Oversight Office recommends that the state
Department of Education assess the workload and
staffing needs of its food services oversight team and
request sufficient federal funding to enable the unit
to aggressively carry out its responsibilities. The
state also should require annual school audits to
include the cafeteria account, and the state's audit
guide should be revised to provide clear and
comprehensive guidance on what expenses can be paid
SB 302
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with food service revenues. We also recommend that
CDE prepare simplified guidelines on acceptable
charges and publicize enforcement action, to encourage
complains.
The state's oversight would benefit from legislation
that reinforces new federal regulations and eliminates
conflicts with others. The Senate Oversight Office
also believes the level of ongoing scrutiny would be
improved, perhaps substantially, if food service
directors were given access to all cafeteria-related
financial records."
Technical amendment needed. This bill references the "Standards
for Audits of Governmental Organizations, Programs, Activities,
and Function." That document has been revised and now goes by
the title, "Government Auditing Standards." Staff recommends
that the bill be amended to reflect the current title.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None received
Opposition
None received
Analysis Prepared by : Rick Pratt / ED. / (916) 319-2087