BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1240
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Date of Hearing: May 13, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
1240 (Bonta) - As Amended May 4, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
Yes
SUMMARY:
This bill requires each school district or county office of
education maintaining any kindergarten through grade 12 to offer
breakfast at schools where at least 40% of the pupils enrolled
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at the school are considered "needy." Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires, from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017, a nutritionally
adequate breakfast to be made available each schoolday for
sale or at no cost to pupils at a school where at least 40% of
the pupils are considered needy. Specifies that beginning
July 1, 2017, this requirement applies only at schools where
at least 40%, but less than 60%, of the pupils enrolled are
needy children.
2)Requires, from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018, a nutritionally
adequate breakfast to be made available each schoolday for
sale or at no cost to pupils at a school where at least 60% of
pupils are considered needy. Requires breakfast to be
available after instruction has begun for the schoolday.
Specifies that beginning July 1, 2018, this requirement
applies only at schools where at least 60%, but less than 80%,
of all pupils enrolled are needy children.
3)Requires, on and after July 1, 2018, a nutritionally adequate
breakfast to be made available each schoolday at no cost to
pupils at a school where at least 80% of the pupils are
considered needy. Requires breakfast to be available after
instruction has begun for the schoolday.
4)Specifies that no pupil shall be required to consume a meal
and school is not required to set aside instructional time for
the purpose of serving breakfast.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)Proposition 98/GF costs, likely in the millions, related to
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increased program participation and school breakfast meal
reimbursement rates. Actual costs will be determined by the
number of meals served. The 2013-14 state meal reimbursement
rate is $0.22 per meal. For illustration, assuming a 5
percent increase in the number of breakfasts served, state
cost would be approximately $2.4 million.
2)General Fund (non-98) administrative costs to the California
Department of Education of approximately $600,000. CDE
indicates they would need one limited-term position and two
ongoing positions to assist with breakfast menu approvals,
application approvals, waiver requests and monitoring.
Additionally, in order to meet new USDA Administrative Review
requirements, CDE estimates two additional consultants would
be needed, assuming these programs participate in the federal
School Breakfast program. CDE estimates are based on 151
school sites that currently participate in the National School
Lunch program but do not serve breakfast. The sponsor of the
bill indicates approximately 664 schools are not serving
breakfast. CDE costs could increase if participation rates
are in this higher range.
COMMENTS:
1)Background. Existing law requires local educational agencies
to provide one nutritiously adequate Free and Reduced Price
Meal (FRPM) to needy children once a day during each
schoolday. A needy child is defined as a child who meets the
federal eligibility for FRPM. For the free meal category,
household income must be at or below 130% of the federal
poverty guidelines. For the reduced-price category, household
income must be between 130% and 185% of federal poverty
guidelines.
School meal programs are funded predominantly by the United
States Department of Agriculture through its National School
Lunch and School Breakfast Program and supplemented by state
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funds. These programs are federal entitlement programs, which
mean that allocations are not fixed; federal funds will be
provided as long as recipients meet income eligibility
criteria. The federal government also offers a higher
reimbursement rate for schools enrolling higher levels of
eligible students, which enables those schools to provide
meals to all pupils.
According to the CDE, in 2013-14, the state received $447
million in federal funds for School Breakfast Programs and
$1.35 billion in federal funds for the School Lunch Program.
State funds augmented the program by $53 million for the
School Breakfast Program and $101 million for School Lunch
Program.
2)Purpose. This bill requires, beginning July 1, 2016, all
schools where at least 40% of the pupils enrolled at the
school are eligible for FRPM to offer breakfast. The
following year, schools with 60% FRPM eligible students are
required to offer breakfast with the additional requirement
that the meal be offered after instruction has begun. By
2018, schools with at least 80% FRPM eligible students are
required to provide breakfast free of charge and offer the
meal after instruction has begun.
According to the sponsor, the California Food Policy Advocates
(CFPA), the purpose of the bill is to increase the level of
participation in the School Breakfast Program. According to
the CDE, participation in the program is about half of the
participation in the School Lunch Program.
Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
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319-2081