An Act to Update Certain Statutes Governing School Nutrition
Maine Legislature, Session 132, LD 2017
Sponsors: MURPHY
Amends: 20-A MRSA §6601-A, 20-A MRSA §6602

Legislative Document
No. 2017
H.P. 1347
House of Representatives, December 5, 2025
An Act to Update Certain Statutes Governing School Nutrition
Submitted by the Department of Education pursuant to Joint Rule 203.
Received by the Clerk of the House on December 3, 2025.  Referred to the Committee on 
Education and Cultural Affairs pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to 
Joint Rule 401.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative MURPHY of Scarborough.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  20-A MRSA §6601-A, as repealed and replaced by PL 2023, c. 405, Pt. A, 
§44, is amended to read:
§6601-A.  Free or reduced-price school meals; Internet-based school meal 
applications
The department shall may contract for the development and implementation of an 
Internet-based application for free or reduced-price meals under the National School Lunch 
Program under 7 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 210 and the School Breakfast Program 
under 7 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 220 or otherwise make available to public 
schools an Internet-based application for those programs.  The department shall may make 
available to public schools the an Internet‑based application for free or reduced-price meals 
developed under this section on the department's a publicly accessible website.  The 
department shall make the any Internet-based application developed pursuant to this section 
in an understandable and uniform format and, to the maximum extent practicable, in a 
language that parents and legal guardians can understand.  A public school may make the 
an Internet-based application available for school meal applications on the public school's 
publicly accessible website.  All public schools shall continue to distribute paper 
applications for school meals to all students.  A public school is solely responsible for 
processing that school's online applications.  Data submitted through the an Internet-based 
application may not be visible to the department and must be transmitted directly to the 
applicable public school.  All public schools shall accept data submitted through the an 
Internet-based application.
Sec. 2.  20-A MRSA §6602, sub-§1, ¶F, as enacted by PL 2019, c. 556, §1, is 
amended to read:
F.  Except as provided under paragraph G, a school administrative unit with a public 
school in which at least 50% of students qualified for a free or reduced‑price lunch 
during the preceding school year shall operate an alternative breakfast delivery service 
that provides breakfast after the start of the school day and before any lunch period in 
the school begins for students at that public school.  A school administrative unit with 
a public school in which at least 70% of students who are eligible for free and 
reduced‑price meals under paragraph A participate in the breakfast program under 
paragraph B is exempt from the requirements of this paragraph.
The department shall publish annually, by July 1, 2020 and every July 1st thereafter, 
on its publicly accessible website, information regarding schools required to comply 
with and schools exempt from this paragraph in the preceding school year, including, 
but not limited to, the name of the school, any alternative breakfast delivery service 
operated, free and reduced‑price breakfast participation rate and the financial impact 
of the program on the school nutrition budget.
Sec. 3.  20-A MRSA §6602, sub-§1, ¶G, as enacted by PL 2019, c. 556, §2, is 
amended by repealing the 2nd blocked paragraph.
Sec. 4.  20-A MRSA c. 223, sub-c. 11, as amended, is repealed.
SUMMARY
This bill amends provisions of education law governing applications for free or 
reduced-price school meals by removing the requirement that the Department of Education 
contract for the development and implementation of an Internet-based application for such 
school meals, instead simply permitting the department to take these actions. It also 
changes requirements for making the application available on the department's publicly 
accessible website and instead permits the department to make the application available on 
a publicly accessible website. It also removes the requirement that a public school is solely 
responsible for processing that school's online applications. 
The bill modifies provisions governing alternative breakfast delivery service in schools 
by removing an exemption applying to certain school administrative units and removing 
the requirement that the department adopt rules related to the alternative breakfast delivery 
service, including rules establishing procedures to track health and academic outcomes of 
students and schools that participate in the service and schools' annual increase in 
participation in the service. 
The bill repeals a provision of education law governing access to food, collection of 
student meal debt and use of food as discipline in schools.