I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2690 

To create a universal, paperless school meal program that is nationally 

available. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 3, 2009 

Mr. SESTAK (for himself and Mr. BRALEY of Iowa) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To create a universal, paperless school meal program that 

is nationally available. 

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 ‘‘School Meal Enhance5 ment Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) ELIGIBLE SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘eligible 

9 school’’ means any school that is— 


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1 (A) eligible to participate in the National 

2 School Lunch Program established under the 

3 Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 

4 (42 U.S.C. 1751) and the National School 

5 Breakfast Program established under the Child 

6 Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.); 

7 (B) meets the participation threshold de8 scribed in section 3(a); and 

9 (C) agrees to provide free meals to all en10 rolled students through the school-wide 

11 paperless free school meal program. 

12 (2) ESTIMATED ELIGIBILITY RATE.—The term 

13 ‘‘estimated eligibility rate’’ means the percentage of 

14 a school’s enrolled students eligible for free or re15 duced price meals under the Child Nutrition Act of 

16 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.) and the Richard B. 

17 Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 

18 et seq.) determined— 

19 (A) in accordance with the guidance issued 

20 by the Secretary under section 3(a)(2)(B)(ii); 

21 or 

22 (B) through a method for determining the 

23 number of students eligible for free or reduced 

24 price meals approved within the last 4 years 

25 under section 18(c) of the Richard B. Russell 


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1 National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 

2 1769(c)). 

3 (3) SCHOOL-WIDE PAPERLESS FREE SCHOOL

4 MEAL PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘school-wide paperless 

5 free school meal program’’ means a program to pro6 vide, to all enrolled students in a participating 

7 school, without requiring the use of paper applica8 tions to determine eligibility for— 

9 (A) free or reduced price school breakfasts 

10 under the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 

11 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.); and 

12 (B) free or reduced price school lunches 

13 under the Richard B. Russell National School 

14 Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.). 

15 (4) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term 

16 ‘‘local educational agency’’ has the meaning given 

17 such term under section 12 of the Richard B. Rus18 sell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1760). 

19 (5) PARTICIPATING SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘par20 ticipating school’’ means an eligible school that has 

21 been selected to participate in the school-wide 

22 paperless free school meal program by its local edu23 cational agency in accordance with the guidance 

24 issued under section 3(a). 


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1 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

2 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

3 SEC. 3. THE SCHOOL-WIDE PAPERLESS FREE SCHOOL 

4 MEAL PROGRAM. 

5 (a) DUTIES OF THE SECRETARY.— 

6 (1) PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later 

7 than the July 1 following date of publication of the 

8 final guidance issued under this subsection, the Sec9 retary shall implement the school-wide paperless free 

10 school meal program in accordance with the require11 ments of this Act. 

12 (2) GUIDANCE.— 

13 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

14 publish in the Federal Register and post on the 

15 website of the Department of Agriculture— 

16 (i) not later than 6 months after the 

17 date of enactment of this Act, for comment 

18 draft guidance for local educational agen19 cies and participating schools on the re20 quirements for carrying out the school21 wide paperless free price school meal pro22 gram; and 

23 (ii) not later than 9 months after the 

24 date of the enactment of this Act, final 

25 guidance for carrying out such program. 


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1 (B) REQUIREMENTS OF THE GUIDANCE.— 

2 (i) PARTICIPATION THRESHOLD.—The 

3 Secretary shall issue guidance that de4 scribes how a local educational agency 

5 shall demonstrate to the Secretary that an 

6 eligible school meets the participation 

7 threshold of— 

8 (I) at least 65 percent estimated 

9 eligibility rate for free meals under 

10 the Richard B. Russell National 

11 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et 

12 seq.) and the Child Nutrition Act of 

13 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.); or 

14 (II) at least 75 percent estimated 

15 eligibility rate for free and reduced 

16 price meals under the Richard B. 

17 Russell National School Lunch Act 

18 (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.). 

19 (ii) GUIDANCE ON ESTIMATED ELIGI20 BILITY RATE.—The Secretary shall issue 

21 guidance that establishes an alternate, 

22 paperless method of determining an esti23 mated eligibility rate. In issuing such guid24 ance, the Secretary shall balance cost-ef25 fectiveness with obtaining an accurate estiVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:57 Jun 04, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2690.IH H2690

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1 mated eligibility rate and take into ac2 count— 

3 (I) the number of students who 

4 are certified as eligible for free meals 

5 under section 9(b)(4) of the Richard 

6 B. Russell School Lunch Act (42 

7 U.S.C. 1758(b)(4)) at each eligible 

8 school; 

9 (II) the number of students de10 termined to be eligible for free or re11 duced price meals at each eligible 

12 school within the last 3 years on the 

13 basis of completed household applica14 tions (as defined in section 9(b)(3)(A) 

15 of the Richard B. Russell School 

16 Lunch Act 1758(b)(3)(A)); 

17 (III) the most recent income and 

18 poverty data available from reliable 

19 data sources, including— 

20 (aa) income and poverty sta21 tistics provided by the Small 

22 Area Income and Poverty Esti23 mates program of the Bureau of 

24 the Census of the Department of 

25 Commerce; 


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1 (bb) data provided by the 

2 American Community Survey of 

3 the Bureau of the Census of the 

4 Department of Commerce; 

5 (cc) determinations under 

6 section 1124(c)(2) of the Ele7 mentary and Secondary Edu8 cation Act (20 U.S.C. 

9 6333(c)(2)); 

10 (dd) data from other Fed11 eral, State, or local means-tested 

12 programs, such as the supple13 mental nutrition assistance pro14 gram established under the Food 

15 and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 

16 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) or the State 

17 Medicaid program under title 

18 XIX of the Social Security Act 

19 (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.); and 

20 (ee) other data sources the 

21 Secretary deems to be reliable; 

22 and 

23 (IV) any local educational agen24 cy-wide data that the Secretary deter25 mines can be used to make statisVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:57 Jun 04, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2690.IH H2690

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1 tically sound assumptions regarding 

2 the estimated eligibility rates for 

3 schools under its jurisdiction. 

4 (iii) SURVEY.—The guidance issued 

5 under clause (ii) may also provide for 

6 phone and door to door sampling to be re7 quired when determining the estimated eli8 gibility rate in order to increase the accu9 racy rate of the estimate. Any phone and 

10 door to door sampling requirement shall 

11 not be more than what is required for the 

12 estimated eligibility rate to reach a 95 per13 cent statistical confidence interval about 

14 the estimate of no more than plus or 

15 minus 2 percentage points. This limitation 

16 shall not restrict local education agencies 

17 from choosing to conduct higher percent18 ages of phone and door to door sampling. 

19 (iv) EVALUATION OF THE ELIGIBILITY

20 RATE.—The Secretary shall issue guid21 ance— 

22 (I) requiring each local edu23 cational agency participating in the 

24 program to evaluate the estimated eliVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:57 Jun 04, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2690.IH H2690

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1 gibility rate at least every 4 years in 

2 each participating school; and 

3 (II) on how to conduct such eval4 uation. 

5 (b) REIMBURSEMENT.—The reimbursement to each 

6 school food service authority of each local education agen7 cy that participates in the program under this Act shall 

8 be for each month of participation, in an amount equal 

9 to the sum of the product obtained by— 

10 (1) multiplying the total number lunches of 

11 served in the school lunches by— 

12 (A) the estimated eligibility rate of enrolled 

13 students in the school eligible for free meals; 

14 and 

15 (B) the special assistance factor for free 

16 lunches prescribed by the Secretary under sec17 tion 11(a)(3)(A) of the Richard B. Russell Na18 tional School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 

19 1759a(a)(3)(A)); 

20 (2) multiplying the total number of breakfasts 

21 served in the school by— 

22 (A) the estimated eligibility rate of enrolled 

23 students in the school eligible for free meals; 

24 and 


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1 (B) the national average payment rate for 

2 free breakfasts established under section 4(b) of 

3 the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 

4 1773(b)); 

5 (3) multiplying the total number of lunches 

6 served in the school by— 

7 (A) by the estimated eligibility rate of en8 rolled students in the school eligible for reduced 

9 price meals; and 

10 (B) by the special assistance factor for re11 duced price lunches established under section 

12 11(a) of the Richard B. Russell National School 

13 Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1759a(b)); 

14 (4) multiplying the total number of breakfasts 

15 served in the school by— 

16 (A) the estimated eligibility rate of enrolled 

17 students in the school eligible for reduced price 

18 meals; and 

19 (B) the national average payment rate for 

20 reduced price breakfasts established under sec21 tion 4(b) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 

22 (42 U.S.C. 1773(b)); 

23 (5) multiplying the number of students not eli24 gible for free or reduced price lunches in the school 

25 by the national average payment rate for lunches esVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:57 Jun 04, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2690.IH H2690

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1 tablished under section 4 of the Richard B. Russell 

2 National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1753); 

3 (6) multiplying the number of students not eli4 gible for free or reduced price breakfasts in the 

5 school by the national average payment rate for each 

6 breakfast served to a child not eligible for free or re7 duced price meals established under section 4(b) of 

8 the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 

9 1773(b)); and 

10 (7) multiplying the total number of lunches 

11 served in the school by the commodity assistance 

12 rate established under section 6(c) of the Richard B. 

13 Russell School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1755(c)). 

14 (c) NUMBER OF STUDENTS NOT ELIGIBLE FOR

15 FREE OR REDUCED PRICE LUNCHES.—The number of 

16 students not eligible for free or reduced price lunches is 

17 equal to the difference obtained by subtracting the number 

18 of free and reduced price lunches served in the school 

19 (based on the estimated eligibility rate of enrolled student 

20 eligible for free and reduce priced meals in the school) 

21 from the total number of lunches served in the school. 

22 (d) NUMBER OF STUDENTS NOT ELIGIBLE FOR

23 FREE OR REDUCED PRICE BREAKFASTS.—The number 

24 of students not eligible for free or reduced price breakfasts 

25 is equal to the difference obtained by subtracting the numVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:57 Jun 04, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2690.IH H2690

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1 ber of free and reduced price breakfasts served in the 

2 school (based on the estimated eligibility rate of enrolled 

3 student eligible for free and reduce priced meals in the 

4 school) from the total number of breakfasts served in the 

5 school. 

6 SEC. 4. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

7 Not later than 2 years after implementing the pro8 gram under this Act, the Secretary shall submit a report 

9 to Congress that shall include— 

10 (1) the increase in the number of students who 

11 are eligible to receive free or reduced meals under 

12 the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et 

13 seq.) and Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 

14 Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) receiving such meals 

15 as a result of the program; and 

16 (2) recommendations for legislation to increase 

17 the number of children eligible to participate in the 

18 program, while reducing waste and cost for schools 

19 and local educational agencies, including rec20 ommendations for increasing direct certification. 

21 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

22 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec23 retary such sums as may be necessary to carry out this 

24 Act. 

Æ 


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