BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1781
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 25, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1781 (Brownley) - As Introduced: February 21, 2012
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:6-3
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill requires children, during meal times, to receive a
free or reduced-price meal at any serving line that a school
food service program operates, manages, or from which it
receives revenue.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)GF/98 state reimbursable mandated costs, likely between
$500,000 and $2 million, to implement this measure. These
costs are associated with some local education agencies (LEAs)
hiring additional staff to accommodate increased volume at
other food serving lines (e.g., kiosks and food carts).
2)Annual GF administrative costs of approximately $120,000 to
the State Department of Education (SDE) to monitor and provide
technical assistance to local education agencies (LEAs).
COMMENTS
1)Background . Existing law requires each school district or
county office of education maintaining any of grades K-12 to
provide one nutritionally adequate free or reduced-price meal
to a needy pupil during each schoolday. Statute further
defines "nutritionally adequate meal" as a breakfast or lunch
that qualifies for reimbursement under the federal child
nutrition program.
Current law also requires each LEA to formulate a plan to
ensure children eligible to receive free or reduced-price
meals and milk not be treated differently from other children,
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including not requiring the children to use a separate serving
line, enter the dining area through a separate entrance, or
consume their meals or milk at a different time.
There were 3.5 million school children eligible for a free or
reduced price meal in 2010-11, which represents approximately
56% of the total school enrollment. According to SDE, there
were 669,296,786 free and reduced-price meals served in
2010-11, which represents 83% of all meals served in schools.
2)Purpose . While existing law requires children who are
eligible to receive a free or reduced-price meal not be
treated differently than other students, the author argues the
reality of how low income children are receiving their meals
depicts a different scenario. For example, school food
service programs serve meals many different ways - in a
traditional cafeteria serving line, food kiosks around campus,
and food carts that exist throughout the school. Food kiosks
and carts generally only serve � la carte items and not the
full lunch and/or breakfast meal. Current law does not
require a free or reduced price meal to be available to
students at all of these locations. As a result, the majority
of food service programs serve the free or reduced-price meals
in a traditional cafeteria line and does not make the food
available at a kiosk or food service cart.
The author states: "The practice of having lines that do not
offer the reimbursable school meal and only offer � la carte
items for purchase identifies students that must go elsewhere
to receive their school meal. Consequently, many low income
students face painful stigma and try to avoid participating in
the school meal programs, leading them to purchase less
nutritious � la carte items, or even going without a meal to
avoid the embarrassment of receiving a free meal."
This bill, sponsored by the California Food Policy Advocates,
requires children, during meal times, to receive a free or
reduced-price meal at any serving line that a school food
service program operates, as specified.
3)Will this bill lead to unintended consequences ? The
proponents of this measure argue some schoolsites do not offer
the state reimbursable meal at all of their food service lines
(e.g., kiosks and food carts). This bill requires children,
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during meal times, to receive a free or reduced-price meal at
any serving line. Depending on the LEA's current food service
operation, this requirement may create additional staff,
infrastructure, and logistical issues for the agency.
Likewise, LEA's budgets have been severely reduced over the
last several years and they may decide that in order to
implement this measure they will scale back the number of food
service lines currently offered. Therefore, all students may
have to wait longer to receive food.
4)Can food service kiosks and carts support the distribution of
the state's meal program ? Currently, food service kiosks and
carts generally only serve � la carte items and not a full
meal. The requirement to offer free and reduced-price meals
at these locations may create facility burdens for schools.
For example, kiosks and carts are small and do not have the
storage or hot/cold equipment. On the other hand, proponents
argue the school can make lunches ahead of time and simply put
them in a bag. Likewise, they state schools sell cold
beverages at these locations so some refrigeration does exist.
Depending on the existing infrastructure of the food kiosks
and carts, school districts may be required to modify their
food service equipment.
Also, a school employee is required to verify all components
of the school meal are provided and the type of meal being
served to a student (i.e., whether free or reduced-price).
Many school districts comply with this requirement in various
ways, including checking names of a roster or a point of sale
(POS) system. A POS system is an electronic system used to
verify the pupil and the type of meal served. As a result,
some school districts designate one line (generally in the
cafeteria) as the free or reduced-price meal line in order to
mitigate staff costs for verification requirements. Districts
that use a POS system may experience logistical and cost
issues extending this system to kiosks and food carts.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081