BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 292
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Date of Hearing: April 15, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
292 (Santiago) - As Amended April 7, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
Yes
SUMMARY: This bill requires school districts to ensure that
each school in their jurisdiction make available to students,
adequate time to eat after being served lunch. Specifically,
this bill:
AB 292
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1)Declares that the California Department of Education (CDE)
specifies adequate time to eat school lunch as 20 minutes
after being served.
2)Specifies that upon annual review of the bell schedule, if a
school determines that it is currently not providing pupils
with adequate time to eat, the school, in consultation with
the district, shall identify and develop a plan to implement
ways to increase pupils' time to eat lunch.
3)Authorizes the appropriate school food authority, to the
extent that funds are available, to use federally or
state-regulated nonprofit school food service cafeteria
accounts to defray any costs allowable under the federal
National School Lunch Program in accordance with that funding
source before considering other funding streams.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Unknown GF/P98 state mandated costs, potentially in excess of $1
million. There are over 1,000 school districts that oversee
9,919 schools in California. Costs claims could include staff
time to develop and implement a plan as well as monitoring and
data collection to ensure each school is providing adequate time
to eat lunch. Depending on the plan, districts may need to
purchase equipment and make system upgrades; provide additional
points of service or expand the school day to meet an adequate
time goal. Actual costs will depend on the size and types of
claims districts submit to the Commission on State Mandates to
implement this measure.
COMMENTS:
Purpose. According to the author, lunch periods provide a
much-needed time for students to take a break and refuel their
AB 292
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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. This bill seeks to remedy
this issue be requiring districts to ensure there is adequate
time to eat lunch.
What is adequate time? The bill states that CDE specifies
adequate time to eat school lunch is 20 minutes after being
served. It is not clear if this is intended to be a guide or a
requirement. Currently several districts are the subject of a
class-action lawsuit related to documentation of compliance with
the 200 minute physical education requirement. Districts will
need clarity around the adequate time requirements and the
expected documentation to prove compliance. Without such
guidance, districts may be subject to litigation challenging
non-compliance.
Offsetting costs. The California Department of Education (CDE)
administers the National School Lunch Program, a federally
assisted meal program operating in over 100,000 public and
nonprofit private schools and residential child care
institutions. Federal funds provide the majority of funding for
school nutrition programs in California. According to a recent
state audit of child nutrition funding, in fiscal year 2011-12,
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) provided 92% of the
funding for the child nutrition programs, or $1.7 billion, and
the state provided the remaining 8%, or $148 million. The
National School Lunch Program is the largest component of the
child nutrition programs, accounting for more than $1.3
billion-or roughly 77%-of the $1.7 billion in federal funds
spent in fiscal year 2011-12.
This bill authorizes school districts to use federally or
state-regulated nonprofit school food service cafeteria accounts
to defray any costs allowable under the federal National School
Lunch Program in accordance with that funding source before
considering other funding streams. CDE is concerned that
AB 292
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encouraging districts to look to their cafeteria account before
considering other funding sources could compromise the financial
integrity of the cafeteria account and lead to conflict with
current CDE policies regarding allowable cafeteria fund charges.
Additionally, CDE notes this could put unexpected stress on
district general fund sources if disallowed charges to the
cafeteria fund are found during a review or audit.
CDE recommends the bill be amended to clarify the funds are to
be used in accordance with regulations that govern these
programs.
Prior Legislation. AB 2449 (Bocanegra) (2014) was substantially
similar to this bill and required school districts and county
offices of education (COEs) to ensure that each of their schools
provide students adequate time to eat after being served a meal.
This bill was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081