SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Shame at School 
Act of 2025’’. 
SEC. 2. UNPAID MEAL DEBT. 
(a) MANDATORY CERTIFICATION.—Section 9(b)(5) of 
the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 
U.S.C. 1758(b)(5)) is amended— 
(1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘DISCRE-
TIONARY’’ and inserting ‘‘MANDATORY’’; 
(2) by striking ‘‘any local’’ and inserting ‘‘a 
local’’; and 
(3) by striking ‘‘may’’ and inserting ‘‘shall’’. 
(b) 
RETROACTIVE
REIMBURSEMENT.—Section 
9(b)(9)(C) of the Richard B. Russell National School 
Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(9)(C)) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘Except’’ and inserting the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except’’; 
(2) by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as sub-
clauses (I) and (II); and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(ii) RETROACTIVITY.—A local edu-
cational agency shall revise a previously 
submitted meal claim to reflect the eligi-
bility approval of a child for free or re-
duced price meals for the period that be-
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gins on the first day of the current school 
year. 
‘‘(iii) MEAL CLAIM DEFINED.—In this 
subsection, the term ‘meal claim’ means 
any documentation provided by a school 
food authority to a State agency in order 
to receive reimbursement for the cost of a 
meal served to a child by such school food 
authority.’’. 
(c) REDUCING STIGMA ASSOCIATED WITH UNPAID 
SCHOOL MEAL FEES.—Section 9(b)(10) of the Richard 
B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 
1758(b)(10)) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(10) REDUCING STIGMA ASSOCIATED WITH UN-
PAID SCHOOL MEAL FEES.— 
‘‘(A) OVERT IDENTIFICATION PROHIBITED.—A 
local educational agency or school food authority 
may not, based on the status of a covered child as 
a covered child— 
‘‘(i) physically segregate such covered 
child; 
‘‘(ii) overtly identify such covered child— 
‘‘(I) through the use of special tokens 
or tickets; or 
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‘‘(II) by an announcement or a pub-
lished list of names; or 
‘‘(iii) identify or stigmatize such covered 
child by any other means. 
‘‘(B) ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION BY LOCAL 
EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—For any covered child who 
is a member of a household that owes a week or 
more of unpaid school meal fees, a local educational 
agency shall— 
‘‘(i) attempt to directly certify such cov-
ered child for free meals under paragraph (4) 
or (5); or 
‘‘(ii) in a case where the local educational 
agency is not able to directly certify such cov-
ered child under paragraph (4) or (5), provide 
to the household of such covered child— 
‘‘(I) a household application and ap-
plicable descriptive material; and 
‘‘(II) written and oral communications 
to encourage submission of the application. 
‘‘(C) COLLECTION OF UNPAID SCHOOL MEAL 
FEES.—In attempting to collect unpaid school meal 
fees from a household, a local educational agency or 
school food authority may not— 
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‘‘(i) except as described in subparagraph 
(D), direct any communication regarding un-
paid school meal fees to a covered child who is 
a member of such household; 
‘‘(ii) withhold educational opportunities 
(including grades and participation in extra-
curricular activities or local educational agency 
programs or services) from, or otherwise stig-
matize, a covered child due to the status of the 
covered child as a covered child; or 
‘‘(iii) use a debt collector (as such term is 
defined in section 803 of the Consumer Credit 
Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1692a)). 
‘‘(D) LETTERS.—A school food authority may 
require that a covered child deliver a sealed letter 
addressed to a parent or guardian of the covered 
child that contains a communication relating to un-
paid school meal fees, subject to the condition that 
the letter shall not be distributed to the covered 
child in a manner that stigmatizes the covered child. 
‘‘(E) ELIMINATING
STIGMA
IN
MEAL
SERV-
ICE.—In providing a meal to a covered child, a local 
educational agency or school food authority may not, 
based on the status of the covered child as a covered 
child, dispose of or take away from the covered child 
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any food that has already been served to such cov-
ered child. 
‘‘(F) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 
‘‘(i) COVERED CHILD.—The term ‘covered 
child’ means a child who— 
‘‘(I) is— 
‘‘(aa) enrolled in a school that 
participates in the school lunch pro-
gram under this Act or the school 
breakfast program under section 4 of 
the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 
U.S.C. 1773); and 
‘‘(bb) is a member of a household 
that owes unpaid school meal fees; or 
‘‘(II) is eligible for a free or reduced 
price lunch under this section. 
‘‘(ii) UNPAID SCHOOL MEAL FEES.—The 
term ‘unpaid school meal fees’ means out-
standing fees owed by a household to a local 
educational agency for lunches under this Act 
or breakfasts under section 4 of the Child Nu-
trition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773).’’. 
Æ 
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