BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2449
Page 1
Date of Hearing: March 26, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
AB 2449 (Bocanegra) - As Introduced: February 21, 2014
SUBJECT : Pupil nutrition: free or reduced-price meals:
adequate time to eat.
SUMMARY : Requires a school district or county office of
education (COE) to ensure that there is adequate time to eat
lunch after the meal is served to students.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
EXISTING LAW requires, notwithstanding any other provision of
law, each school district or county superintendent of schools
maintaining any kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12,
inclusive, to provide for each needy pupil one nutritionally
adequate free or reduced-price meal during each schoolday,
except for family day care homes that shall be reimbursed for 75
percent of the meals served.
COMMENTS : The National School Lunch Program is a federally
assisted meal program operating in over 100,000 public and
nonprofit private schools and residential child care
institutions. It provided nutritionally balanced, lowcost or
free lunches to more than 31 million children each school day in
2012. In 1998, Congress expanded the National School Lunch
Program to include reimbursement for snacks served to children
in afterschool educational and enrichment programs to include
children through 18 years of age. The Food and Nutrition
Service administers the program at the federal level. At the
State level, the National School Lunch Program is usually
administered by state education agencies, which operate the
program through agreements with school food authorities. In
California, the California Department of Education (CDE)
administers the program. With regard to adequate time to eat
school meals, the CDE, in the 2006 report "School Nutrition?by
Design," specifies that one strategy for increasing student
participation in school lunch is, "scheduling sufficient time to
enable students to eat after being served-no less than 10
minutes for breakfast and no less than 20 minutes for lunch."
According to the author, "California's State Meal Mandate dates
AB 2449
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back to the Child Nutrition Facilities Act of 1975. In
recognition of the link between nutrition, health, and academic
success, the meal mandate requires public schools to provide a
nutritious, free or reduced-price meal to each needy student
every school day. In recent years, numerous legislative actions,
both state and federal, have improved the nutritional quality of
school meals. Lunch periods provide a much-needed time for
students to take a break and refuel their bodies. For many
low-income students, school lunch may be the most nutritious
meal of the day. However, California students frequently miss
out on the full benefits of school lunch because they don't have
enough time to eat. Time pressures at lunch can result in food
waste and poor nutrition. The CDE recommends that students have
20 minutes to eat after receiving their lunches, but many
schools are not meeting that recommendation. A 2013 CDE survey
of over 1,000 school principals found that only 24.9% of
elementary schools and 8.2% of middle/high schools had policies
at the site or district level specifying an amount of time that
students have to eat. When asked to estimate the amount of time
the last student in line has to eat during the lunch period,
only 28.1% of elementary principals and 44.8% of middle/high
school principals reported that they were provided at least 20
minutes to eat."
Further the author argues, "AB 2449 would improve student
nutrition, reduce food waste and support student learning.
Research shows that providing enough time to eat may encourage
students to eat more of the foods that are often under-consumed
and nutritionally beneficial, such as fruits, vegetables, and
milk. School lunches bring health and academic benefits to
students while drawing additional federal funds into California
in the form of per-meal reimbursements. AB 2449 would more
efficiently spend resources that support school lunches. These
funds can be used to improve school meal programs, purchase
higher-quality food, and support local jobs. The Legislature has
already established the requirement that schools provide
students with nutritious school lunches. However, legislative
action is needed to ensure that students have enough time to eat
the meals provided during the lunch period. Adding this element
in statute will allow CDE to define adequate time in regulations
and to develop different options for schools to consider as they
work to ensure every student has time to eat lunch."
What is adequate time to eat ? While the CDE recommends 20
minutes for students to eat after being served school lunch, the
AB 2449
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bill does not specify a time frame. Without state statute
specifying a time frame, could school districts and COEs choose
less than 20 minutes or upwards of one hour as an adequate time
to eat? Regardless of the number of minutes chosen, this bill is
a state mandated local program, so mandate costs will likely be
incurred. The author may wish to consider whether to require
school districts to follow the CDE recommendation or other
recommended meal time.
Charter Schools: While charter schools are not required to
provide school meals, some choose to provide school lunch. The
committee may wish to consider whether to include charter
schools, which currently choose to provide school lunch, in this
requirement.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Action for Healthy Kids
California Catholic Conference
California Center for Public Health Advocacy
California Food Policy Advocates
Center for Ecoliteracy
Children Now
Guadalupe Union School District
Los Angeles Unified School District
National Association of Social Workers
Pittsbury Unified School District
Santa Maria-Bonita School District
School Food Initiative
SF-Marin Food Bank
Several individuals
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Chelsea Kelley / ED. / (916) 319-2087