II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5200 

To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require 

mandatory certification for certain students and reduce stigma associated 

with unpaid school meal fees, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 25, 2024 

Ms. SMITH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 

Act to require mandatory certification for certain students and reduce stigma associated with unpaid school 

meal fees, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Shame at School 

5 Act of 2024’’. 


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•S 5200 IS

1 SEC. 2. UNPAID MEAL DEBT. 

2 (a) MANDATORY CERTIFICATION.—Section 9(b)(5) of 

3 the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 

4 U.S.C. 1758(b)(5)) is amended— 

5 (1) in the paragraph heading, by striking ‘‘DIS6 CRETIONARY’’ and inserting ‘‘MANDATORY’’; and 

7 (2) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 

8 by striking ‘‘any local educational agency may’’ and 

9 inserting ‘‘a local educational agency shall’’. 

10 (b) RETROACTIVE REIMBURSEMENT.—Section 

11 9(b)(9)(C) of the Richard B. Russell National School 

12 Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(9)(C)) is amended— 

13 (1) by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as sub14 clauses (I) and (II), respectively; 

15 (2) in the matter preceding subclause (I) (as so 

16 redesignated), by striking ‘‘Except’’ and inserting 

17 the following: 

18 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except’’; and 

19 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(ii) RETROACTIVITY.— 

21 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—A local edu22 cational agency shall revise a pre23 viously submitted meal claim to reflect 

24 the eligibility approval of a child for 

25 free or reduced price meals for the peVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Oct 09, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5200.IS S5200

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•S 5200 IS

1 riod that begins on the first day of 

2 the current school year. 

3 ‘‘(II) DEFINITION OF MEAL

4 CLAIM.—In this clause, the term 

5 ‘meal claim’ means any documenta6 tion provided by a school food author7 ity to a State agency to receive reim8 bursement for the cost of a meal 

9 served to a child by that school food 

10 authority.’’. 

11 (c) REDUCING STIGMA ASSOCIATED WITH UNPAID

12 SCHOOL MEAL FEES.—Section 9(b) of the Richard B. 

13 Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)) 

14 is amended by striking paragraph (10) and inserting the 

15 following: 

16 ‘‘(10) REDUCING STIGMA ASSOCIATED WITH

17 UNPAID SCHOOL MEAL FEES.— 

18 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 

19 ‘‘(i) COVERED CHILD.—The term 

20 ‘covered child’ means a child who— 

21 ‘‘(I) is— 

22 ‘‘(aa) enrolled in a school 

23 that participates in the school 

24 lunch program under this Act or 

25 the school breakfast program 


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•S 5200 IS

1 under section 4 of the Child Nu2 trition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 

3 1773); and 

4 ‘‘(bb) is a member of a 

5 household that owes unpaid 

6 school meal fees; or 

7 ‘‘(II) is eligible for a free or re8 duced price lunch under this section. 

9 ‘‘(ii) UNPAID SCHOOL MEAL FEES.— 

10 The term ‘unpaid school meal fees’ means 

11 outstanding fees owed by a household to a 

12 local educational agency for lunch provided 

13 under the school lunch program under this 

14 Act or breakfast provided under the school 

15 breakfast program under section 4 of the 

16 Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 

17 1773). 

18 ‘‘(B) OVERT IDENTIFICATION PROHIB19 ITED.—A local educational agency or school 

20 food authority may not, based on the status of 

21 a covered child as a covered child— 

22 ‘‘(i) physically segregate the covered 

23 child; 

24 ‘‘(ii) overtly identify the covered 

25 child— 


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1 ‘‘(I) through the use of special 

2 tokens or tickets; or 

3 ‘‘(II) by an announcement or a 

4 published list of names; or 

5 ‘‘(iii) identify or stigmatize the cov6 ered child by any other means. 

7 ‘‘(C) ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION BY

8 LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—For any cov9 ered child who is a member of a household that 

10 owes 1 week or more of unpaid school meal 

11 fees, a local educational agency shall— 

12 ‘‘(i) attempt to directly certify that 

13 covered child for free meals under para14 graph (4) or (5); or 

15 ‘‘(ii) if a local educational agency is 

16 not able to directly certify that covered 

17 child under paragraph (4) or (5), provide 

18 to the household of the covered child— 

19 ‘‘(I) a household application for 

20 free meals and applicable descriptive 

21 material; and 

22 ‘‘(II) written and oral commu23 nications to encourage submission of 

24 that application. 


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1 ‘‘(D) COLLECTION OF UNPAID SCHOOL

2 MEAL FEES.—In attempting to collect unpaid 

3 school meal fees from a household, a local edu4 cational agency or school food authority may 

5 not— 

6 ‘‘(i) except as described in subpara7 graph (E), direct any communication re8 garding unpaid school meal fees to a cov9 ered child who is a member of that house10 hold; 

11 ‘‘(ii) withhold educational opportuni12 ties (including grades and participation in 

13 extracurricular activities or local edu14 cational agency programs or services) 

15 from, or otherwise stigmatize, a covered 

16 child who is a member of that household; 

17 or 

18 ‘‘(iii) use a debt collector (as defined 

19 in section 803 of the Consumer Credit 

20 Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1692a)). 

21 ‘‘(E) LETTERS.—A school food authority 

22 may require that a covered child deliver a 

23 sealed letter addressed to a parent or guardian 

24 of the covered child that contains a communica25 tion relating to unpaid school meal fees, subject 


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•S 5200 IS

1 to the condition that the letter shall not be dis2 tributed to the covered child in a manner that 

3 stigmatizes the covered child. 

4 ‘‘(F) ELIMINATING STIGMA IN MEAL SERV5 ICE.—In providing a meal to a covered child, a 

6 local educational agency or school food author7 ity may not, based on the status of the covered 

8 child as a covered child, dispose of or take away 

9 from the covered child any food that has al10 ready been served to the covered child.’’. 

Æ 


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