Title: School Meals

Summary: Requires schools to provide certain information relating to free or reduced-price meals; provides school duties & responsibilities relating free or reduced-price meals & students; prohibits schools from taking specified actions.

Full Text:
An act relating to school meals; providing a short title; creating s. 1002.24, F.S.; providing definitions; requiring schools to provide certain information relating to free and reduced-price meals in specified formats; requiring schools to complete an application for free or reduced-price meals on a student's behalf under certain circumstances; providing an exemption to such requirements; requirin ga certain liaison to work with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to ensure certain students receive meals; providing applicability; providing duties and responsibilities of schools relating to the provision of meals and contacting and assisting a student's parent; prohibiting a school from taking specified actions relating to a student who cannot pay for a meal or who owes a meal debt; prohibiting parents from paying specified fees or costs relating to meal debts; authorizing the State Board of Education to adopt rules; providing an effective date. Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: Section 1. This act may be cited as the "Hunger-Free HB 1275 2022 Students' Bill of Rights Act." Section 2. Section 1002.24, Florida Statutes, is created to read: 1002.24 Student access to school meals.-(1) For purposes of this section the term: (a) "Meal application" means an application for free or reduced-price meals under the National School Lunch Program or the School Breakfa st Program. (b) "School" means a public school or nonprofit private school approved to participate in the National School Lunch Program or the School Breakfast Program. (2)(a) Each school must provide: 1. A free, printed meal application in every sch ool enrollment packet or, if the school chooses to use an electronic meal application, an explanation of the electronic meal application process and instructions for how a parent may request a printed meal application at no cost. 2. A meal application an dinstructions in a language the parent understands. If a parent cannot read or understand a meal application, the school must offer assistance in completing the application. (b) If a school becomes aware that a student who has not submitted a meal appli cation is eligible for free or reduced price meals, the school shall complete and file a meal application for the student pursuant Title 7, s. 245.6(d) of the HB 1275 2022 Code of Federal Regulations. (c) Paragraphs (a) and (b) do not apply to a school that provides free meals to all students for an entire school year and does not collect meal applications. (3) A school district's liaison for homeless children and youths, required under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, U.S.C. s. 11432, shall coordinate with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to ensure that homeless children and youths receive free and reduced-price meals. This subsection does not apply to nonprofit private schools. (4) Regardless of whether or not a student has money to pay for a meal or owes money for earlier meals, a school shall: (a) Provide a United State Department of Agriculture reimbursable meal to a student who requests one, unless a parent has specificall yprovided written permission for the school to withhold a meal. (b) If the student owes money for five or more meals: 1. Check the state list of students categorically eligible for free meals to determine if the student is categorically eligible. 2. Make at least two attempts, not including the meal application or instructions included in the enrollment packet, to reach the student's parent and to request the parent complete a meal application. 3. Require the principal, an assistant principal, or a HB 1275 2022 counselor to contact the parent to offer assistance with the meal application, determine if there are other issues within the household that have caused the student to have insufficient funds to purchase a school meal, and offer any other appropriate assistance. (c) Direct all communications regarding a student's meal debt to his or her parent. However, a school may send a letter home with the student that is addressed to the parent. (5) A school may not: (a) Require a student to throw a meal away af ter it has been served because of the student's inability to pay for the meal or because money is owed for earlier meals. (b) Publicly identify or stigmatize a student who cannot pay for a meal or who owes a meal debt, including, but not limited to, requ iring a student to wear a wristband or hand stamp. (c) Require a student who cannot pay for a meal or who owes a meal debt to do chores or other work to pay for meals. This does not include chores or work required of all students regardless of a meal deb t. (d) Require a parent to pay fees or costs from a collection agency hired to collect a meal debt. (6) The State Board of Education may adopt rules to administer this section. Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2022.