Helping Schools Feed Kids Act of 2023

To amend the Keep Kids Fed Act of 2022 to extend additional reimbursement rates for certain child nutrition programs, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Helping Schools Feed Kids Act of 2023 2. Extension of reimbursement rates (a) Breakfasts and lunches Section 2(a)(3) of the Keep Kids Fed Act of 2022 ( 42 U.S.C. 1753 (1) by striking only (2) by striking the period at the end and inserting and the school year beginning July 2023. (b) CACFP meals Section 3(a) of the Keep Kids Fed Act of 2022 ( 42 U.S.C. 1766 (1) in paragraph (1), in the heading, by striking for 2022-2023 school year (2) in paragraph (2)— (A) by striking only (B) by striking the period at the end and inserting and the school year beginning July 2023. 3. Research and implementation of report recommendations (a) In general The Secretary of Agriculture (in this section referred to as the Secretary (b) Activities The Secretary shall— (1) implement, on the publicly available website of the Food and Nutrition Service, a user-friendly, single location for all guidance and policy materials provided to States and school food authorities by the Food and Nutrition Service of the Department of Agriculture; (2) create and submit to Congress a plan to restructure or simplify the school meal eligibility process, including— (A) research on— (i) the impact of using a unified school meal application form; and (ii) the use of census tract data on poverty levels for verification of eligibility under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq. 42 U.S.C. 1773 (B) recommendations for legislative changes needed to implement such plan; (3) create and submit to Congress a plan that includes recommendations for legislative changes that would allow school food authorities that serve fewer than 100 students and residential child care institutions to receive food from the USDA Foods in Schools program (or cash in lieu thereof) without participating in the school lunch program under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq. (4) consolidate duplicative information requests across management evaluations and financial management reviews, while ensuring the purposes of both such reviews are met.

Summary: Helping Schools Feed Kids Act of 2023 This bill extends temporary additional reimbursements for certain school-based nutrition programs and requires the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to implement or recommend changes to the administration of the programs. Specifically, for the school year beginning in July 2023, the bill extends for one year temporary additional reimbursements for the cost of certain meals: 40 cents per lunch served in the National School Lunch Program, 15 cents per breakfast served in the School Breakfast Program, and 10 cents per meal and supplement served in the Child and Adult Care Food Program. Further, FNS must research or implement recommendations contained in the FNS-commissioned Child Nutrition Reporting Burden Analysis Study. In addition, FNS must post all FNS guidance and policy materials provided to states and school food authorities on the FNS website in a user-friendly system; create a plan to simplify the school breakfast and lunch program eligibility process, which includes research and recommendations on using a standardized meal application form and verifying program eligibility using census tract data on poverty levels; and recommend legislative changes to allow school food authorities serving under 100 students and residential child care institutions to receive food (or cash in lieu of food) from the Department of Agriculture's Food in Schools program without having to participate in the National School Lunch Program.