BILL NUMBER: AB 839 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 15, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 27, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 26, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Brownley
FEBRUARY 17, 2011
An act to add and repeal Section 49550.4 to
of the Education Code, relating to pupil
nutrition.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 839, as amended, Brownley. Pupil nutrition: federal School
Breakfast Program participation.
Existing law requires each school district or county
superintendent of schools maintaining any kindergarten or any of
grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to provide for each needy pupil one
nutritionally adequate free or reduced-price meal during each
schoolday. Existing law states the intent of the Legislature that the
federal School Breakfast Program be made available in all schools
where it is needed to provide adequate nutrition for children in
attendance. Existing law requires the State Department of Education
to, in cooperation with school districts and county superintendents
of schools, provide information and limited financial assistance to
encourage school breakfast program startup and expansion into all
qualified schools. Existing law encourages school districts and
charter schools that do not operate school breakfast programs to
apply for funding to establish breakfast programs using funds
appropriated for this purpose in the annual Budget Act.
This bill would state findings and declarations regarding the
importance of breakfast to the achievement of pupils. This bill would
require school districts that elect to apply for funds under
specified categorical programs to, in the process of the school
district governing board approving the required
application, use data required in the application, specifically, the
number of pupils eligible for free and reduced-price meals, to assess
and discuss, in a regularly scheduled public school district
governing board meeting to review and consider approval of the
required application, access to the federal School Breakfast Program
and participation in the school breakfast program
federal School Breakfast Program , as specified.
This The bill would require school districts
that apply for those funds to include specified information in the
application relating to school participation in the federal School
Breakfast Program. The bill would repeal these provisions on
January 1, 2017, or upon the occurrence of a specified event,
whichever is later.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Children who eat breakfast have more healthful diets,
consuming more micronutrients and nutrient-rich foods like fruits,
vegetables, and milk, compared to children who do not eat breakfast.
(b) Research shows that breakfasts served at school are often more
nutritious than breakfasts served at home or elsewhere.
(c) Pupils who eat breakfast demonstrate better cognitive
performance and improved academic achievement.
(d) Pupils who participate in the federal School Breakfast Program
are more likely to have a healthier body weight than
nonparticipants.
(e) Effective school breakfast delivery models, like Classroom
Breakfast, have been shown to improve the learning environment for
all pupils by decreasing pupil absenteeism, tardiness, reports of
stomachache and headache, and disciplinary issues.
(f) Alternative delivery models, such as Classroom Breakfast and
Second Chance Breakfast, have been shown to significantly improve
school breakfast participation and yield fiscal benefits.
(g) Over 750 public schools in California do not offer the federal
School Breakfast Program.
(h) The 91 percent of public schools in California that do
not offer the federal School Breakfast Program
fail to reach 2.3 million of the state's low-income public school
pupils.
(i) If participation in the federal School Breakfast Program
matched participation in the federal school lunch program
National School Lunch Program among low-income
pupils, California's public schools would receive an additional $350
million in federal meal reimbursements.
(j) Through the state-mandated, school district governing
board approval of the approved,
consolidation application, many school district governing
boards meet annually to address the number of low-income pupils they
serve. This process presents an excellent opportunity for school
district governing boards to discuss the school
breakfast program federal School Breakfast Program
and its potential to support these same pupils.
(k) Both the federal School Breakfast Program and the consolidated
application enable school districts to draw on funds designated to
serve low-income pupils. Integrating consideration of the
school breakfast program federal School Breakfast
Program into the school district board
governing board's approval of the consolidated application will
help school districts maximize federal funds harnessed through the
school breakfast program federal School
Breakfast Program without delaying or undermining access to
categorical funds through the consolidated application.
(l) Given the health, academic, and fiscal benefits of school
breakfast, all school districts should assess the opportunities for
implementing school breakfast at sites not operating the federal
School Breakfast Program and improving school breakfast at sites with
low rates of participation in the federal School Breakfast Program.
SEC. 2. Section 49550.4 is added to the Education Code, to read:
49550.4. (a) To increase access to, and
participation in, the federal School Breakfast Program, school
districts that elect to apply for funding pursuant to Section 64000
shall, in the process of the school district governing
board approving the required application, use data required in the
application, specifically, the number of pupils eligible for free and
reduced-price meals, to assess and discuss, in a regularly scheduled
public school district governing board meeting to review
and consider approval of the required application, each of the
following that applies:
(a)
(1) Access to the federal School Breakfast Program.
Specifically, the school district governing board shall
identify the number of pupils who are determined to be
eligible for free and reduced-price meals and attend a school that
does not operate the federal School Breakfast Program. The school
district governing board shall include in the application
required by subdivision (b) of Section 64000 a statement that does
all both of the following:
(1)
(A) Affirms which schools not operating the federal
School Breakfast Program will continue not to operate the program and
articulates the reasons for continued nonoperation of the program at
these schools.
(2)
(B) Indicates which schools not operating the federal
School Breakfast Program will begin to operate the program and
provides a date of program implementation for each of these schools.
(b)
(2) Participation in the federal School
Breakfast Program. Specifically, the school district governing
board shall do all of the following:
(1)
(A) Use existing data that is regularly collected for
the purposes of claiming school meal
reimbursements to identify schoolsites within the school district
that have low participation in the federal School Breakfast Program.
For purposes of this subdivision, school sites with low participation
in the federal School Breakfast Program are those in which either of
the following applies:
(A)
(i) Average daily participation of free- and
reduced-price-meal-eligible pupils in the school breakfast
program federal School Breakfast Program is
not more than 20 percent or less than
of the average daily participation of free- and
reduced-price-meal-eligible pupils in the federal National
School Lunch Program.
(B)
(ii) Average daily participation of free- and
reduced-price-meal-eligible pupils in the school breakfast
program federal School Breakfast Program is
not more than 15 percent or less than
of the number of enrolled pupils who are determined to be
eligible for free and reduced-price meals.
(2)
(B) Consider options, including, but not limited to,
alternative service locations, service times, and payment structures
for operating the federal School Breakfast Program.
(3)
(C) Include in the application required by subdivision
(b) of Section 64000 a statement that does both of the following
:
(A)
(i) Indicates which schools within the school district
that operate a federal School Breakfast Program with low
participation will continue the program without operational changes,
including, but not limited to, changes in service locations, service
times, or payment structures, and articulates the reasons and fiscal
analyses for not making these changes to the program.
(B)
(ii) Indicates which schools within the school district
that operate a federal School Breakfast Program with low
participation will implement operational changes to the program and
provides a date of implementation for those changes.
(b) This section shall remain in effect until January 1, 2017, or
three years after changes are made to the application required by
subdivision (b) of Section 64000 to include the information regarding
the federal School Breakfast Program required pursuant to this
section, whichever is later. As of that date, this section is
repealed, unless a later enacted statute that is enacted before
January 1, 2017, or three years after those changes are made,
whichever is later, deletes or extends that date.