BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 2555
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 25, 2012

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                AB 2555 (Carter) - As Introduced:  February 24, 2012 

          Policy Committee:                              Education 
          Vote:6-3

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires a waiver application for the Summer Food 
          Service (SFS) program to be submitted to the State Board of 
          Education (SBE) no later than 60 days before the board's last 
          regular meeting before the beginning of the summer school 
          session for which the waiver is sought.  

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          No additional costs to the State Department of Education to 
          implement this measure.  

           COMMENTS  

           1)Background  .  The SFS program is a federally-funded program 
            that reimburses sponsors for administrative and operational 
            costs for providing meals to children 18 years of age and 
            younger during periods when they are out of school for 15 or 
            more consecutive school days. Public and private schools, 
            Indian tribal governments, local governments, and other public 
            or private nonprofit agencies are eligible to participate in 
            the program.  

            Existing law requires schools district to provide needy 
            students one nutritious meal every school day, including 
            summer sessions.  Districts can obtain a one-year waiver of 
            the summer session meal service requirement, if the district 
            can demonstrate specified conditions related to the 
            availability and proximity of another SFS program, or, if 
            serving meals during the summer would result in a financial 
            loss to the district, as specified.  








                                                                  AB 2555
                                                                  Page  2


           2)Purpose .  Current law requires a school district to submit a 
            SFS program waiver request to the SBE no later than 30 days 
            prior to the last regular meeting of the SBE before the 
            beginning of the summer school session, as specified.  
            According to the author, "Since 2005, �SDE] has been making a 
            concerted effort to reduce the number of waivers to the state 
            meal �requirement] for summer school going before the SBE. 
            Over the last six years the number of waivers requested has 
            decreased by over 75%.  The additional 30 days, that this bill 
            affords, will allow �SDE] staff to provide school districts 
            with in-depth technical assistance in exploring alternative 
            methods of providing meals to children before the waiver is 
            presented before the SBE."

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916) 
          319-2081