BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 839 (Brownley)
Hearing Date: 08/25/2011 Amended: 08/15/2011
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Education 6-2
_________________________________________________________________
____
BILL SUMMARY: AB 839 requires school districts that elect to
apply for funding through the consolidated application process
to, while in the process of approving the consolidated
application, assess and discuss and consider specified issues
concerning School Breakfast Program participation. This bill
makes legislative findings and declarations regarding the
importance of breakfast to the achievement of pupils.
_________________________________________________________________
____
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14
Fund
Consolidated application Likely minor, potentially
significant costs Local
School Breakfast Program Substantial cost pressure: up to tens
of millions General
_________________________________________________________________
____
STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.
This bill requires school district boards that apply for certain
funding to assess and discuss specific information regarding
access to and participation in the School Breakfast Program, as
well as include that information in the "consolidated
application" for certain state and federal categorical funding.
The consolidated application is an electronic document required
of districts that elect to apply for certain state and federal
categorical funds, including Title 1 funds. Districts that
choose to submit the consolidated application must have the
document approved by their local school board.
Under this bill, local school boards tasked with approving the
consolidated application to discuss the following, in a public
AB 839 (Brownley)
Page 1
meeting: A) Access to the School Breakfast Program, including
identifying the number of pupils who are eligible for free and
reduced-price meals and attend a school that does not operate a
breakfast program; B) participation in the School Breakfast
Program, including identifying schools within the district that
have low participation in the breakfast program; and C) options
for increasing program participation, including, but not limited
to, alternative service locations, service times, and payment
structures for operating the school breakfast program, and
include specified statements in the consolidated application.
The cost to local school district governing boards to have the
required discussions would likely be minor. The discussions
could occur during a regularly scheduled board meeting, and
using existing student data. Because school districts are not
required to participate in the School Breakfast Program, this
bill's requirements are unlikely to constitute a reimbursable
mandate. School districts with participating schools are,
however, functionally required to assume this additional
workload (or cancel their breakfast programs). To the extent
that these discussions result in the implementation of new
School Breakfast Program policies and practices, local schools
may incur additional costs or workload; new processes would be
at the discretion of the local board, and would not constitute a
reimbursable state mandate.
This bill is intended to increase participation in the School
Breakfast Program. Its legislative findings and declarations
discuss the importance of the program, and the program's
underutilization, as well as the benefit of alternative delivery
models (which are a discussion requirement). The School
Breakfast Program is primarily funded with federal funds (as an
entitlement), but it does receive some state funding (as a
non-entitlement augmentation). To the extent that the provisions
of this bill are successful increasing program participation,
there will be additional cost pressure to increase state funding
augmentation of this program.
In 2009-10, the most recent year for which complete data was
available, 3,434,256 pupils participated in the School Breakfast
Program statewide. Federal reimbursement ranged from 26 cents
for paid meals to $1.74 for free meals. The state pays $0.2195
per meal for students who qualify for free and reduced-price
meals. In May and June of 2009-10, state funding was
AB 839 (Brownley)
Page 2
insufficient to fully reimburse meals, so the reimbursement was
reduced to $.0695 per meal. The CDE estimates that if school
breakfast participation was at 100%, the additional cost to the
state would be nearly $100 million dollars to augment (by
approximately 22 cents per meal) 450 million additional meals.
This estimate assumes that there are approximately 2.5 million
who likely qualify for free and reduced breakfasts (and is
similar to the bill's finding of 2.3 million pupils). School
Breakfast Program meals cost school districts an average of
$2.28 each; many districts subsidize free and reduced-cost
breakfast because the combined Federal and state funding are
insufficient to cover the costs.
Staff notes that new federal School Breakfast Program
requirements will go into effect on July 1, 2012. The new rules
seek to make breakfasts more nutritious by increasing the
availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free
and low-fat milk. Food costs will likely increase from serving
more fruits and vegetables (as well as requiring students to
take one fruit or vegetable), replacing refined grains with
whole grains, and requiring meat and meat alternatives for every
breakfast. Labor costs will likely increase from more on-site
preparation and less reliance on prepared foods. The USDA
estimates that food and labor costs will increase under this
rule by $0.068 per lunch and $0.37 per breakfast upon initial
implementation. These costs would increase to $0.015 per lunch
and $0.52 per breakfast in 2016.