BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 708
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Date of Hearing: July 1, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Patrick O'Donnell, Chair
SB
708 (Mendoza) - As Amended April 16, 2015
SENATE VOTE: 38-0
SUBJECT: Pupil nutrition: free or reduced-price meals: online
applications.
SUMMARY: Establishes requirements for school districts and
county offices of education, if they choose to provide an online
application for free or reduced-price meals. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Specifies that the governing board of a school district and
the county superintendent of schools shall make paper
applications for free or reduced-price meals available to
pupils at all times during each regular schoolday, and may
also make an application electronically available online,
provided that the online application complies with specified
criteria.
2)Specifies that if the governing board of a school district, a
county office of education, or a school food service officer
chooses to provide access to an online application for free or
reduced-price meals, the online application shall comply with
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all of the following requirements:
a) Include a link to the Internet Web site on which
translated applications are posted by the United States
Department of Agriculture, with instructions in that
language that inform the applicant how to submit the
application. The Legislature finds and declares that
federal guidelines require school food authorities to
accept and process these applications if they are submitted
to the school food authority.
b) Require completion of only those questions that are
necessary for determining eligibility.
c) Include clear instructions for families that are
homeless or are migrants.
d) Comply with the privacy rights and disclosure
protections established by the federal Richard B. Russell
National School Lunch Act (Public Law 113-79) and the
federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998
(Public Law 105-277).
e) Include links to all of the following:
i) The online application to CalFresh.
ii) The online single state application for health care.
iii) The Internet Web site maintained by the State
Department of Public Health providing ZIP-Code-specific
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referrals to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program
for Women, Infants and Children.
iv) The Internet Web site of a summer lunch program
authorized to participate within the city or school
district.
3)Prohibits an online application for free or reduced-price
meals to be made available online or made accessible online by
a school district, county office of education, or school food
service officer if the online application allows for the
information provided by an applicant to be used by a private
entity for any purpose not related to the administration of a
school food program, or if the online application requires an
applicant to waive any right or to create a user account in
order to submit the application.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires each school district or county office of education to
provide for each needy student one nutritionally adequate free
or reduced-price meal during each schoolday. (Education Code
49550)
2)Requires school districts and county offices of education to
make applications for free or reduced-price meals available to
students at all times during each regular schoolday. (EC
49557)
3)Encourages each school district and county office of education
to include information that parents may use to request
information concerning the Medi-Cal program, and the Healthy
Families Program. (EC 49557.1)
4)Authorizes school districts or county offices of education to
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incorporate information relative to Medi-Cal and health care
coverage through the California Health Benefit Exchange into
the School Lunch Program application packet or notification of
eligibility. (EC 49557.2)
5)Requires all applications and records concerning any
individual made or kept by any public officer or agency
relating to free or reduced-price meal eligibility to be
confidential, and may not be open to examination for any
purpose not directly connected with the administration of a
free or reduced-price meal program. (EC 49558)
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, this bill's authorization of school districts and
county offices of education to make electronic applications for
free or reduced-priced meals available will not likely result in
additional costs to the state as these would be local decisions.
Any decision to make these applications available online would
result in a cost pressure to make any changes necessary to
ensure the application complies with the requirements in this
bill.
The California Department of Education (CDE) indicates that it
annually makes updates to eligibility materials for the free or
reduced-priced meals program available to local educational
agencies. CDE anticipates that this bill would generate
workload between $15,000 to $17,000 General Fund to update
materials to reflect the requirements of this bill.
To the extent this bill increases participation in the other
public benefit programs, as intended, it could result in
additional costs to the state. For example, if an additional 50
members participate in Medi-Cal because they were encouraged to
do so by having access to information included in the free or
reduced-price meals application, the annual impact the state
could be about $66,000 in a mix of federal and General Fund
(assuming a per member, per month cost of $110).
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COMMENTS: This bill establishes requirements for school
district, county offices of education and school food service
officers to follow if those entities choose to provide an online
application for free and reduced-price meals.
According to the author, child hunger can negatively impact
classroom learning and has long-term consequences to academic
outcomes and child brain development. The National School Lunch
Program (NSLP) is one of the best ways to address child hunger
during the school year. The federally funded program is guided
by state and federal law and guidance. Current state and federal
law requires federal school lunch program participating entities
to follow certain procedures and establish certain protections,
but the current statute is silent on the topic of online
applications, which several school districts are voluntarily
making available to parents. SB 708 seeks to address the
problem of lack of parity of rights and protections for children
whose parents are applying using online applications and support
the use of new technology to increase access to materials
translated by federal administrators and to other online
resources that can help prevent hunger and illness among
children. SB 708 does not require schools to provide an online
application, it only establishes basic requirements of those
online applications should the school district or school food
entity chose to make one available to parents.
Paper vs Electronic Applications: Current law requires school
districts and county offices of education to make applications
for free or reduced-price meals available to students at all
times during each regular schoolday. This bill authorizes
school districts, county offices of education and school food
service officers to also make an electronic application
available online. This bill requires, if districts, county
offices or school food service officers choose to offer an
electronic application, the electronic application to include
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links to the following information that is not currently
required to be provided with the paper application:
1)The California Department of Public Health's website providing
zip code specific referrals to the Special Supplemental
Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children.
2)The website of a summer lunch program authorized to
participate within the city or school district.
Current law authorizes and encourages, but does not require,
paper applications to include information about Medi-Cal and
CalFresh. According to the author, current practice is to
provide clear instructions for families that are homeless or
migrant. This bill requires both paper and electronic
applications to include clear instructions for families that are
homeless or migrant, and requires electronic applications to
include links to applications for CalFresh and health care, in
addition to the information cited above.
Online Security: This bill requires an online application to
comply with the privacy rights and disclosure protections
established by the federal Richard B. Russell National School
Lunch Act and the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection
Act. This bill also prohibits an online application to be made
available or accessible if the online application allows for the
information provided by an applicant to be used by a private
entity for any purpose not related to the administration of a
school food program, or if the online application requires an
applicant to waive any right or to create a user account in
order to submit the application.
Eligibility Determination: This bill requires an online
application to require completion of only those questions that
are necessary for determining eligibility. According to the
author, schools often use applications to collect other
information of interest to them, but that information is not
required to be included in the school meal application. Those
additional items can be skipped on a paper application and
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schools are required to accept and process the application if
the information specific to free or reduced-price meals is
complete. It's possible that an electronic application could
include mandatory fields (require an answer) for each point of
information, even if that information is not required for the
free or reduced-price meal application.
Committee Amendment: Staff recommends the bill be amended to
change the term "school food service officer" to "school food
service personnel."
Related Legislation: AB 422 (Nazarian), Chapter 440 from 2013,
added information regarding health care coverage available
through the California Health Benefit Exchange to notifications
that may be included at the option of the school district or
county superintendent on applications for the School Lunch
Program.
AB 402 (Skinner), Chapter 504 from 2011, authorized school
districts and county offices of education to share information
provided on the School Lunch Program application with the local
agency that determines CalFresh program eligibility, or to an
agency that determines eligibility for nutrition assistance
programs. Required each county to determine eligibility for
CalFresh based on the information shared by a school district or
county office of education and to enroll determined eligible
pupils.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
American Heart Association/American Stroke Association
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California Association of Food Banks
California Hunger Action Coalition
California Pan-Ethnic Health Network
California School Employees Association
California Teachers Association
Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organization
Courage Campaign
National Association of Social Workers
St. Anthony Foundation
Western Center on Law and Poverty
Opposition
None on file.
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Analysis Prepared by:Chelsea Kelley / ED. / (916)
319-2087