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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘School Meal Enhance-
ment Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) ELIGIBLE
SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘eligible 
school’’ means any school that is— 
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(A) eligible to participate in the National 
School Lunch Program established under the 
Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1751) and the National School 
Breakfast Program established under the Child 
Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.); 
(B) meets the participation threshold de-
scribed in section 3(a); and 
(C) agrees to provide free meals to all en-
rolled 
students 
through 
the 
school-wide 
paperless free school meal program. 
(2) ESTIMATED ELIGIBILITY RATE.—The term 
‘‘estimated eligibility rate’’ means the percentage of 
a school’s enrolled students eligible for free or re-
duced price meals under the Child Nutrition Act of 
1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.) and the Richard B. 
Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 
et seq.) determined— 
(A) in accordance with the guidance issued 
by the Secretary under section 3(a)(2)(B)(ii); 
or 
(B) through a method for determining the 
number of students eligible for free or reduced 
price meals approved within the last 4 years 
under section 18(c) of the Richard B. Russell 
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National 
School 
Lunch 
Act 
(42 
U.S.C. 
1769(c)). 
(3) SCHOOL-WIDE
PAPERLESS
FREE
SCHOOL 
MEAL PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘school-wide paperless 
free school meal program’’ means a program to pro-
vide, to all enrolled students in a participating 
school, without requiring the use of paper applica-
tions to determine eligibility for— 
(A) free or reduced price school breakfasts 
under the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 
U.S.C. 1771 et seq.); and 
(B) free or reduced price school lunches 
under the Richard B. Russell National School 
Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.). 
(4) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term 
‘‘local educational agency’’ has the meaning given 
such term under section 12 of the Richard B. Rus-
sell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1760). 
(5) PARTICIPATING SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘par-
ticipating school’’ means an eligible school that has 
been selected to participate in the school-wide 
paperless free school meal program by its local edu-
cational agency in accordance with the guidance 
issued under section 3(a). 
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(6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of Agriculture. 
SEC. 3. THE SCHOOL-WIDE PAPERLESS FREE SCHOOL 
MEAL PROGRAM. 
(a) DUTIES OF THE SECRETARY.— 
(1) PROGRAM
IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later 
than the July 1 following date of publication of the 
final guidance issued under this subsection, the Sec-
retary shall implement the school-wide paperless free 
school meal program in accordance with the require-
ments of this Act. 
(2) GUIDANCE.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 
publish in the Federal Register and post on the 
website of the Department of Agriculture— 
(i) not later than 6 months after the 
date of enactment of this Act, for comment 
draft guidance for local educational agen-
cies and participating schools on the re-
quirements for carrying out the school- 
wide paperless free price school meal pro-
gram; and 
(ii) not later than 9 months after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, final 
guidance for carrying out such program. 
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(B) REQUIREMENTS OF THE GUIDANCE.— 
(i) PARTICIPATION THRESHOLD.—The 
Secretary shall issue guidance that de-
scribes how a local educational agency 
shall demonstrate to the Secretary that an 
eligible school meets the participation 
threshold of— 
(I) at least 65 percent estimated 
eligibility rate for free meals under 
the Richard B. Russell National 
School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et 
seq.) and the Child Nutrition Act of 
1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.); or 
(II) at least 75 percent estimated 
eligibility rate for free and reduced 
price meals under the Richard B. 
Russell National School Lunch Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.). 
(ii) GUIDANCE ON ESTIMATED ELIGI-
BILITY RATE.—The Secretary shall issue 
guidance that establishes an alternate, 
paperless method of determining an esti-
mated eligibility rate. In issuing such guid-
ance, the Secretary shall balance cost-ef-
fectiveness with obtaining an accurate esti-
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mated eligibility rate and take into ac-
count— 
(I) the number of students who 
are certified as eligible for free meals 
under section 9(b)(4) of the Richard 
B. Russell School Lunch Act (42 
U.S.C. 1758(b)(4)) at each eligible 
school; 
(II) the number of students de-
termined to be eligible for free or re-
duced price meals at each eligible 
school within the last 3 years on the 
basis of completed household applica-
tions (as defined in section 9(b)(3)(A) 
of the Richard B. Russell School 
Lunch Act 1758(b)(3)(A)); 
(III) the most recent income and 
poverty data available from reliable 
data sources, including— 
(aa) income and poverty sta-
tistics provided by the Small 
Area Income and Poverty Esti-
mates program of the Bureau of 
the Census of the Department of 
Commerce; 
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(bb) data provided by the 
American Community Survey of 
the Bureau of the Census of the 
Department of Commerce; 
(cc) determinations under 
section 1124(c)(2) of the Ele-
mentary and Secondary Edu-
cation 
Act 
(20 
U.S.C. 
6333(c)(2)); 
(dd) data from other Fed-
eral, State, or local means-tested 
programs, such as the supple-
mental nutrition assistance pro-
gram established under the Food 
and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 
U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) or the State 
Medicaid program under title 
XIX of the Social Security Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.); and 
(ee) other data sources the 
Secretary deems to be reliable; 
and 
(IV) any local educational agen-
cy-wide data that the Secretary deter-
mines can be used to make statis-
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tically sound assumptions regarding 
the estimated eligibility rates for 
schools under its jurisdiction. 
(iii) SURVEY.—The guidance issued 
under clause (ii) may also provide for 
phone and door to door sampling to be re-
quired when determining the estimated eli-
gibility rate in order to increase the accu-
racy rate of the estimate. Any phone and 
door to door sampling requirement shall 
not be more than what is required for the 
estimated eligibility rate to reach a 95 per-
cent statistical confidence interval about 
the estimate of no more than plus or 
minus 2 percentage points. This limitation 
shall not restrict local education agencies 
from choosing to conduct higher percent-
ages of phone and door to door sampling. 
(iv) EVALUATION OF THE ELIGIBILITY 
RATE.—The Secretary shall issue guid-
ance— 
(I) requiring each local edu-
cational agency participating in the 
program to evaluate the estimated eli-
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gibility rate at least every 4 years in 
each participating school; and 
(II) on how to conduct such eval-
uation. 
(b) REIMBURSEMENT.—The reimbursement to each 
school food service authority of each local education agen-
cy that participates in the program under this Act shall 
be for each month of participation, in an amount equal 
to the sum of the product obtained by— 
(1) multiplying the total number lunches of 
served in the school lunches by— 
(A) the estimated eligibility rate of enrolled 
students in the school eligible for free meals; 
and 
(B) the special assistance factor for free 
lunches prescribed by the Secretary under sec-
tion 11(a)(3)(A) of the Richard B. Russell Na-
tional 
School 
Lunch 
Act 
(42 
U.S.C. 
1759a(a)(3)(A)); 
(2) multiplying the total number of breakfasts 
served in the school by— 
(A) the estimated eligibility rate of enrolled 
students in the school eligible for free meals; 
and 
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(B) the national average payment rate for 
free breakfasts established under section 4(b) of 
the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 
1773(b)); 
(3) multiplying the total number of lunches 
served in the school by— 
(A) by the estimated eligibility rate of en-
rolled students in the school eligible for reduced 
price meals; and 
(B) by the special assistance factor for re-
duced price lunches established under section 
11(a) of the Richard B. Russell National School 
Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1759a(b)); 
(4) multiplying the total number of breakfasts 
served in the school by— 
(A) the estimated eligibility rate of enrolled 
students in the school eligible for reduced price 
meals; and 
(B) the national average payment rate for 
reduced price breakfasts established under sec-
tion 4(b) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 
(42 U.S.C. 1773(b)); 
(5) multiplying the number of students not eli-
gible for free or reduced price lunches in the school 
by the national average payment rate for lunches es-
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ber of free and reduced price breakfasts served in the 
school (based on the estimated eligibility rate of enrolled 
student eligible for free and reduce priced meals in the 
school) from the total number of breakfasts served in the 
school. 
SEC. 4. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 
Not later than 2 years after implementing the pro-
gram under this Act, the Secretary shall submit a report 
to Congress that shall include— 
(1) the increase in the number of students who 
are eligible to receive free or reduced meals under 
the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et 
seq.) and Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 
Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) receiving such meals 
as a result of the program; and 
(2) recommendations for legislation to increase 
the number of children eligible to participate in the 
program, while reducing waste and cost for schools 
and local educational agencies, including rec-
ommendations for increasing direct certification. 
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec-
retary such sums as may be necessary to carry out this 
Act. 
Æ 
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