AB 292, as introduced, Santiago. Pupil nutrition: free or reduced-price meals: adequate time to eat.
(1) Existing law requires each school district or county superintendent of schools maintaining kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to provide one nutritionally adequate free or reduced-price meal for each needy pupil during each schoolday, except as specified. Existing law authorizes a school district or county office of education to use funds made available through any applicable federal or state program or to use its own funds to provide the required meals.
This bill would express legislative intent that schools provide pupils with adequate time to eat lunch during the schoolday. The bill would require school districts and county offices of education, in addition to providing a nutritionally adequate free or reduced-price meal for each needy pupil each schoolday, to ensure that each of the schools in their respective jurisdictions provides their pupils adequate time to eat after being served. The bill would declare that the State Department of Education specifies that an adequate time to eat is 20 minutes after being served. The bill would require a school that determines it is currently not providing pupils with adequate time to eat to take specified actions. To the extent this requirement would create new duties for school districts and county offices of education, it would constitute a state-mandated local program.
The bill would specify that, in order to comply with its requirements requiring adequate time for pupils to eat after being served, a school district or county office of education may, to the extent that funds are available, use federally or state-regulated nonprofit school food service cafeteria accounts to defray any allowable costs from that funding source before considering other funding streams.
The bill would also make nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.
(2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
2following:
3(1) Healthy eating is vital to learning and cognitive development.
4When children miss out on nutritious meals during the schoolday,
5they cannot learn, grow, or achieve at their full potential.
6(2) School meal programs help ensure that children have access
7to adequate nutrients and develop healthy eating behaviors.
8(3) Lunchtime is an essential part of the schoolday, supporting
9children’s academic success along with their physical, social, and
10emotional well-being.
11(4) The federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010
12substantially improved the nutritional standards of the federal
13National School Lunch Program. California has invested significant
14resources to effectively implement these standards. These
15investments are wasted if pupils do not eat lunch during the
16schoolday.
17(5) There are pupils across California--in elementary, middle,
18and high schools--who do not have the recommended minimum
19time to eat lunch during the schoolday. When pressed for time,
P3 1pupils often throw away portions of their lunches, buy less
2nutritious snacks instead of lunch, or skip lunch entirely, even
3when they are hungry.
4(6) Pupils who face long lines or short lunch periods are less
5likely to participate in the school lunch program at all.
6(b) Since California requires that a nutritious
free or
7reduced-price meal be made available to all low-income pupils
8enrolled in traditional K-12 public schools, and since pupils need
9enough time to eat lunch in order to reap the health and academic
10benefits of school meals, it is therefore the intent of the Legislature
11that schools provide pupils with adequate time to eat lunch during
12the schoolday.
Section 49550 of the Education Code is amended to
14read:
(a) Notwithstanding any otherbegin delete provision ofend delete law,begin delete eachend delete
16begin insert aend insert school district or countybegin delete superintendentend deletebegin insert officeend insert ofbegin delete schoolsend delete
17begin insert educationend insert maintaining
kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12,
18inclusive, shall provide for each needy pupil one nutritionally
19adequate free or reduced-price meal during each schoolday, except
20for family day care homes that shall be reimbursed for 75 percent
21of the meals served.begin insert School districts and county offices of education
22shall ensure that each of the schools in their respective jurisdictions
23provides their pupils adequate time to eat after being served. The
24department specifies adequate time to eat as 20 minutes after being
25servedend insertbegin insert. If a school determines that it is currently not providing
26pupils with adequate time to eat, the school shall begin to increase
27pupilsend insertbegin insert’ time to eat commencing with the 2016-17 school year.end insert
28(b) In order to comply with subdivision (a), a school district or
29county office of education may use fundsbegin delete madeend deletebegin insert that areend insert available
30through any federal or state program the purpose of which includes
31the provision of meals to a pupil, includingbegin insert, but not necessarily
32limited to,end insert the federal School Breakfast Program, the federal
33National School Lunch Program, the federal Summer Food Service
34Program, the federal Seamless Summer Option, or the state meal
35program, or may do so at the expense of the school district or
36county office of education.
37(c) In order to comply with the provision of subdivision (a)
38requiring adequate time for pupils to eat after being served, a
39school district or county office of education may, to the extent that
40funds are available, use federally or state-regulated nonprofit
P4 1school food service cafeteria accounts to defray any allowable
2costs from that funding source before considering other funding
3streams.
If the Commission on State Mandates determines that
5this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
6local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
7pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division
84 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
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