BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 1594 (Eng) - Charter Schools: Pupil Nutrition
Amended: May 25, 2012 Policy Vote: Education 6-2
Urgency: No Mandate: See staff comments.
Hearing Date: August 6, 2012
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 1594 requires a charter school to provide each
needy pupil with one nutritionally adequate free or
reduced-price (FRP) meal each schoolday, as specified.
Fiscal Impact:
State operations: Approximately $600,000 in federal funds,
annually, to provide administrative support to charter
schools. The California Department of Education (CDE) would
require authority for both limited-term and ongoing
federally funded PYs.
Meal reimbursement: Unknown ongoing General Fund costs,
depending on the number of meals provided which are eligible
for partial state reimbursement.
Waiver process: Significant workload increase to evaluate
(likely more than 200) additional waivers, and one-time cost
of $32,000 to adopt waiver regulations.
Background: Existing law defines a "nutritionally adequate meal"
as a breakfast or lunch that qualifies for reimbursement under
federal child nutrition program regulations.
School districts and county offices of education are required to
provide for each needy pupil, one nutritionally adequate free or
reduced-price meal during each schoolday. A school district or
county office of education may use funds made available through
any federal or state program to provide these meals, including
the federal National School Lunch Program (NSLP), the federal
Summer Food Service Program, the federal Seamless Summer Option,
or the state meal program. (Education Code � 49550)
This law is also known as the "State Meal Mandate." Charter
schools are exempt from most laws governing school districts and
schools, including the State Meal Mandate.
AB 1594 (Eng)
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At the request of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, the
California State Auditor recently reviewed California charter
schools in an effort to gain a broader understanding of how
charter schools are meeting the nutritional needs of students,
particularly low-income students. The October 2010 report,
California's Charter Schools: Some Are Providing Meals to
Students, but a Lack of Reliable Data Prevents the California
Department of Education from Determining the Number of Students
Eligible for or Participating in Certain Federal Meal Programs,
indicated that a majority of charter schools, approximately 60%,
provide meals via the NSLP and School Breakfast Program. Of the
815 charter schools included in the study, 451 were
participating in the breakfast or lunch program, and 151 did not
provide meals because instruction is nonclassroom based. The
auditor surveyed the remaining 213 charter schools, and of the
133 that responded, 41 stated that they were in fact
participating in the federal nutrition programs, 46 stated they
offer their students an alternative meal program and 39 stated
they do not provide meals to their students, mainly because they
lack resources such as funding, staff, or a kitchen, cafeteria,
or other facility in which to prepare and deliver meals.
Proposed Law: AB 1594 requires a charter school to provide each
needy pupil with one nutritionally adequate FRP during each
schoolday. Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires new charter schools established on or after July 1,
2013, to offer FRP meals when the school begins operation.
2) Requires existing charter schools that provided needy pupils
with FRP meals during the 2012-13 school year to comply
with the provisions of the bill commencing with the 2013-14
school year.
3) Requires charter schools that did not provide FRP meals
during the 2012-13 school year to begin offering FRP meals
upon the renewal of their charter.
4) Authorizes the State Board of Education (SBE) to grant a
two-year hardship waiver to schools that demonstrate that
implementation of the requirements of this bill would
create a financial hardship.
AB 1594 (Eng)
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5) Exempts charter schools that offer only nonclassroom-based
instruction or only online instruction from the
requirements of the bill.
Staff Comments: Many charter schools currently comply with the
State Meal Mandate, and access federal and state funds to serve
eligible meals. This bill would require all classroom-based
charter schools to comply with State Meal Mandate. Legislative
counsel has indicated that this bill may impose a new mandate on
charter schools. That mandate is not likely to be reimbursable,
however, since Commission on State Mandates has ruled that
charter schools are not eligible for mandate reimbursement. Some
charter schools will still incur significant new costs to comply
with this bill's requirements. Access to kitchen facilities
and/or food service vendors, as well as county health
requirements, vary throughout the state.
Charter school participation data is limited, not only for which
schools participate in meal programs, but also for the types of
schools which do not participate and the reasons they may find
participation difficult or undesirable. The CDE believes that
under this measure, 219 additional charter schools would be
required to comply with the State Meal Mandate, beyond those
already participating.
The CDE's Nutrition Services Division (NSD) provides staff
support to 1500 school food authorities (SFAs) which encompass
11,000 school meal sites, including traditional public schools,
charter schools, private schools, juvenile detention centers,
etc. The NSD has 230 positions, which are all federally funded.
The CDE indicates that supporting 219 additional charter schools
would add significant workload to the NSD. Supporting charter
schools typically requires more staff time than non-charters
because charters often do not have staff dedicated solely to
nutrition services, and require more initial training in
compliance. The CDE estimates that this bill would result in
several partial PYs' staff time, for site visits, performance
reviews, documentation paperwork, menu approval, and other
technical assistance. Total ongoing annual staff costs would be
approximately $600,000 in federal funds, which are available and
can be used for these new PYs.
This bill will likely result in significant new costs to the
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state to partially reimburse meal costs for 219 new schools
participating in meal service. Currently, the state reimburses
schools approximately 22 cents per qualifying meal served. Due
to limited data on non-participating schools, it is not clear
how many pupils would be served in the 219 charter schools that
do not currently participate. Generally, larger charter schools
and those in higher population areas are more likely to
currently comply with the State Meal Mandate.
This bill allows charter schools to submit requests for a
two-year waiver if they can demonstrate that the new requirement
creates a financial hardship for the school. It is likely that
many of the non-participating schools believe that participation
will create a financial hardship. This provision will require
the CDE to review all waiver requests, decide whether or not the
bill imposes a financial hardship on each school, and grant
waivers accordingly. The CDE also estimates that it will cost
$32,000 to develop and adopt new regulations for the waiver
process.