State SealARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 

HB 2186: school meals; unpaid fees

PRIME SPONSOR: Representative Udall, LD 25

BILL STATUS: Education

                                Ways & Means

 

Overview

☐ Prop 105 (45 votes) ☐ Prop 108 (40 votes) ☐ Emergency (40 votes) ☐ Fiscal NoteEstablishes the requirements for local education agencies (LEA) to provide school meals to pupils who request them and outlines the conditions of collection of payment and policies an LEA shall adhere to.  

History

Statute requires all elementary schools, middle schools, and junior high schools to participate in the National School Lunch Program (NLSP), except a school district that has fewer than 100 pupils (A.R.S. 15-242 (B)). Additionally, the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) is required to develop minimum nutrition standards that meet federal guidelines and requires all elementary schools, middle schools, and junior high schools that occupy at least 100 pupils to participate in NSLP (A.R.S. 15-242 (A)).

In 2017, the U.S. Department of Agriculture mandated that all school food authorities operating the NSLP and/or School Breakfast Program establish written policies to address situations where children participating at the reduced price or paid rate do not have money to cover the cost of a meal at the time of the meal service (see USDA local charge policy requirements). As a result, ADE promulgated guidelines to LEAs that prohibited them from including the following actions in their unpaid meal charge policies:

·         Announcing or publicizing the names of children with unpaid meal fees;

·         Requiring children with unpaid charges to use a different serving line;

·         Using hand stamps, or other physical markers to identify children with unpaid charges;

·         Sending clearly marked notices home with children who have an outstanding balance;

·         Enlisting volunteers to request payment from a family with unpaid meal charges;

·         Suggesting or requiring children with unpaid charges to work for a meal or to pay back debt;

·         Throwing a child's meal in the trash if they are unable to pay; and,

·         Serving unappealing alternate meals as a strategy to embarrass children with unpaid meal debt (see ADE memorandum, 2017).

Provisions

1.       Requires a school to provide a school meal to a pupil who requests it. (Sec. 1)

2.       Prohibits an LEA from publicizing or disciplining individuals with unpaid school meal fees. (Sec. 1)

3.       Requires an LEA to establish a policy for resolving unpaid school meal fees. (Sec. 1)

4.       Allows LEA to collect unpaid school meal fees but prohibits the LEA from using a debt collector to do so. (Sec. 1)

5.       Allows a taxpayer to earn tax credit contributions to a public school for unpaid school meal fees. (Sec. 1)

6.       Allows tax credits to be used towards unpaid school meal fees. (Sec.2).

7.       Makes technical changes. (Sec. 2)

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10.   ---------- DOCUMENT FOOTER ---------

11.   Fifty-fourth Legislature                       HB 2186

12.   First Regular Session                            Version 1: Education

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14.   ---------- DOCUMENT FOOTER ---------