State SealARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 

HB 2186: school meals; unpaid fees

PRIME SPONSOR: Representative Udall, LD 25

BILL STATUS: House Engrossed

                               

                               

 

Overview

Establishes 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 to which an LEA must adhere to☐ Prop 105 (45 votes) ☐ Prop 108 (40 votes) ☐ Emergency (40 votes) ☐ Fiscal Note.

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 United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) mandated that all schools and school districts operating the National School Lunch Programs (NSLP) and/or School Breakfast Programs (SBP) are required to provide written unpaid meal charge policies for the staff or families involved with qualified schools or school districts (see USDA local charge policy requirements).

As a result, LEAs are not allowed to include the following actions in their policies (see ADE memorandum, 2017):

·         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

·         Serving unappealing alternate meals as a strategy to embarrass children with unpaid meal debt

Provisions

1.       Requires a school to provide a school meal that meets nutrition standards to a pupil who requests it.

2.       Prohibits an LEA from publicizing, disciplining, or discriminating against individuals with unpaid school meal fees.

3.       Allows an LEA to collect unpaid school meal fees from a parent or guardian but prohibits the LEA from using a debt collector to do so.

4.       Requires LEA to establish a policy for resolving unpaid school meal fees and post this policy on its website or make it available on request.

5.       Allows a school district governing board or charter school governing body to establish a payment plan for parents or guardians or use monies from a meal fee debt fund that consists of donations or gifts to be used to pay pupils' unpaid school meal fees.

 

 

 

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Fifty-Fourth Legislature                      HB 2186

First Regular Session                            Version 4: House Engrossed

 

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