California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 31

Introduced by Assembly Member Skinner

August 26, 2013

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 31—Relative to child nutrition programs.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AJR 31, as introduced, Skinner. Child nutrition programs: school meals.

This bill would declare that the Legislature supports federal standards for healthy meals, including those standards recently adopted pursuant to the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, would urge the President and the Congress of the United States to ensure that reimbursement rates for school meals are adequate to fully fund the cost of producing a nutritious school meal relative to the cost of living in a region, and would state that the eligibility scale used to qualify families for free and reduced-priced meals be adjusted, as specified.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, The National School Lunch Program is declared
to be the policy of Congress, “as a measure of national security,
to safeguard the health and well-being of the nation’s children and
to encourage the domestic consumption of nutritious agricultural
commodities and other food, by assisting the states, through
grants-in-aid and other means, in providing an adequate supply of
food and other facilities for the establishment, maintenance,
operation, and expansion of nonprofit school lunch programs”;
and

WHEREAS, Federal regulations further state that participating
schools shall ensure that children gain a full understanding of the
relationship between proper eating and good health; and

WHEREAS, Child nutrition programs are responsible for
collaborating with the school community to implement
comprehensive nutrition and wellness policies in school districts;
and

WHEREAS, All of California’s more than 6 million pupils
deserve access to high-quality, safe, nutritious meals available in
the school setting, recognizing the link between adequate
nourishment and educational performance; and

WHEREAS, Children who experience hunger have been shown
to be more likely to have lower math scores, decreased
attentiveness, increased likelihood of repeating a grade, increased
absences and tardiness, and more referrals to special education
services; and

WHEREAS, Child nutrition programs in California provide
over 4 million meals to school children daily, and must comply
with complex state and federal requirements, provide adequate
food preparation and dining facilities, and meet budget
requirements despite rapidly escalating food, energy, transportation,
labor, and other costs; and

WHEREAS, Losses in the school meal programs must be offset
by other revenue sources that would otherwise support classroom
instruction; and

WHEREAS, Recent changes in federal menu planning
regulations resulting from the federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids
Act of 2010 have increased costs so that they now exceed the
additional reimbursements provided for school meals; and

WHEREAS, The difference between reimbursement and cost
undermines the ability to continue to provide nutritious meals to
all pupils; and

WHEREAS, The United States Department of Agriculture
recognizes higher cost as a factor in determining reimbursement
rates by allowing a higher federal reimbursement rate in Alaska
and Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, Many families who qualify for reduced-price meals,
prescribed by federal law using the federal poverty level, find it
difficult to pay the reduced fee, and the fee for a paid meal is an
insurmountable barrier to participation for an increasing number
of families in California; and

WHEREAS, The eligibility scale to qualify pupils for free or
reduced-price meals is the same scale throughout the country and
does not consider regions with higher costs of living; and

WHEREAS, The January 2013 Institute of Medicine report
“Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Examining the
Evidence to Define Benefit Adequacy” recognizes local and
regional costs as negatively impacting the effectiveness of the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; and

WHEREAS, The same dynamics impact school meal programs;
and

WHEREAS, A self-sufficiency index, which identifies the
income levels at which families can meet their most basic needs
without public support, is available in all regions to apply to meal
eligibility standards; and

WHEREAS, A single-parent household with two children in
San Mateo County, California, needs $56,280 to be self-sufficient,
while a similar family in Guernsey County, Ohio, is self-sufficient
with only $24,258; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature supports federal standards
for healthy meals, including those standards recently adopted
pursuant to the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, and urges
the President and the Congress of the United States to ensure that
reimbursement rates for school meals are adequate to fully fund
the cost of producing a nutritious school meal relative to the cost
of living in a region; and be it further

Resolved, That the eligibility scale used to qualify families for
free and reduced-price meals be adjusted according to the
self-sufficiency index for the region served; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the
Majority Leader of the United States Senate, and to each Senator
and Representative from California in the Congress of the United
States.