Florida Senate - 2024 SB 300 By Senator Berman 26-00442-24 2024300__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to a universal free school breakfast 3 and lunch program; amending s. 595.402, F.S.; defining 4 and redefining terms; amending s. 595.405, F.S.; 5 requiring the Department of Agriculture and Consumer 6 Services, subject to the appropriation of funds by the 7 Legislature, to establish and operate a program to 8 provide universal free school breakfast and lunch 9 meals to all public school students; specifying 10 requirements for school districts; deleting provisions 11 requiring school districts to implement and charge 12 students for a breakfast program; deleting provisions 13 requiring only certain school districts to implement a 14 universal free school breakfast program and 15 encouraging districts to provide free breakfast meals; 16 revising the information that school districts are 17 required to provide to parents regarding the 18 availability of certain school meals, to conform to 19 changes made by the act; authorizing school districts 20 to operate free school meal programs using offsite 21 food preparation locations; amending s. 595.404, F.S.; 22 conforming a cross-reference; providing an effective 23 date. 24 25 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 26 27 Section 1.Section 595.402, Florida Statutes, is amended to 28 read: 29 595.402Definitions.As used in this chapter, the term: 30 (1)Commissioner means the Commissioner of Agriculture. 31 (2)Community eligibility provision means the federal 32 program created in 42 U.S.C. s. 1759a(a)(1)(F) which allows a 33 school district to choose to receive federal special assistance 34 payments for school meals in exchange for providing free school 35 meals to all students enrolled in all or selected schools of the 36 school district, if such agencies comply with specified 37 requirements. 38 (3)Department means the Department of Agriculture and 39 Consumer Services. 40 (4)Eligible breakfast and lunch meals means meals served 41 at breakfast and lunch which meet the nutritional requirements 42 specified in the National School Breakfast Program and 7 C.F.R. 43 s. 210.10, respectively. 44 (5)National School Breakfast Program means the federal 45 school breakfast program created in 42 U.S.C. s. 1773, which is 46 administered by the department. 47 (6)National School Lunch Program means the federal 48 school lunch program created in the Richard B. Russell National 49 School Lunch Act. 50 (7)(3)Program means any one or more of the school food 51 and nutrition service programs that the department has 52 responsibility over including, but not limited to, the National 53 School Lunch Program, the Special Milk Program, the National 54 School Breakfast Program, the Summer Food Service Program, the 55 Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, and any other program that 56 relates to school nutrition. 57 (4)School breakfast program means a program authorized 58 by s. 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966, as amended, and 59 administered by the department. 60 (8)(5)School district means any of the 67 county school 61 districts, including the respective district school board. 62 (9)Special assistance alternative means a special 63 nutrition assistance alternative federal reimbursement method 64 authorized by the United States Department of Agriculture 65 pursuant to 42 U.S.C. s. 1759a and 7 C.F.R. part 245, for 66 eligible schools that serve free meals to all enrolled students. 67 The term includes the community eligibility provision. 68 (10)(6)Sponsor means any entity that is conducting a 69 program under a current agreement with the department. 70 (11)(7)Summer nutrition program means one or more of the 71 programs authorized under 42 U.S.C. s. 1761. 72 (12)(8)Universal school breakfast and lunch program 73 means a program that makes breakfast and lunch available at no 74 cost to all students regardless of their household income. 75 Section 2.Section 595.405, Florida Statutes, is amended to 76 read: 77 595.405Universal free school breakfast and lunch program 78 School nutrition program requirements. 79 (1)Each district school board shall consider the 80 recommendations of the district school superintendent and adopt 81 policies to provide for an appropriate food and nutrition 82 program for students consistent with federal law, this section, 83 and department rule rules. 84 (2)Subject to the appropriation of funds by the 85 Legislature for that purpose, the department shall establish and 86 operate a universal school breakfast and lunch program for all 87 public school students in grades K-12. Each district school 88 board shall implement a universal school breakfast and lunch 89 program that offers eligible breakfast and lunch meals, free of 90 charge, school breakfast programs that make breakfast meals 91 available to all students in each school that serves any 92 combination of grades K-12. In implementing the universal school 93 breakfast and lunch program, each school district shall do all 94 of the following: 95 (a)Participate in the National School Breakfast Program 96 and the National School Lunch Program. 97 (b)Provide reimbursable eligible breakfast and lunch meals 98 at no cost to all public school students in grades K-12 within 99 any school breakfast program or school lunch program operated by 100 the school district. 101 (c)Submit to the department, in a manner determined by the 102 department, information regarding the number of reimbursable 103 breakfast and lunch meals that each school within the district 104 served to students. 105 (d)Maximize access to federal funds for the cost of the 106 National School Breakfast Program and National School Lunch 107 Program by participating in the community eligibility provision 108 or another special assistance alternative, if eligible, and 109 operate the National School Breakfast Program and the National 110 School Lunch Program in a way that the department determines 111 draws down the greatest possible federal funding for eligible 112 breakfast and lunch meals served in the National School 113 Breakfast Program and the National School Lunch Program 114 kindergarten through 5. 115 (3)Each district school board must annually set prices for 116 breakfast meals at rates that, combined with federal 117 reimbursements and state allocations, are sufficient to defray 118 costs of school breakfast programs without requiring allocations 119 from the districts operating funds, except if the district 120 school board approves lower rates. 121 (4)To increase student participation in the universal 122 school breakfast and lunch program, each school district 123 operating a breakfast program shall: 124 (a)Make a breakfast meal available to if a student who 125 arrives at school on the school bus less than 15 minutes before 126 the first bell rings and shall allow the student at least 15 127 minutes to eat the breakfast. 128 (5)Each district school board is encouraged to provide 129 universal, free school breakfast meals to all students in each 130 elementary, middle, and high school. A universal school 131 breakfast program shall be implemented in each school in which 132 80 percent or more of the students are eligible for free or 133 reduced-price meals, unless the district school board, after 134 considering public testimony at two or more regularly scheduled 135 board meetings, decides not to implement such a program in such 136 schools. 137 (b)(6)To increase school breakfast and universal school 138 breakfast program participation, each district school board 139 must, To the maximum extent practicable, make breakfast meals 140 available to students through alternative service models as 141 described in publications of the Food and Nutrition Service of 142 the United States Department of Agriculture for the federal 143 School Breakfast Program. 144 (4)(7)Each district school board shall annually provide to 145 all parents through school announcements and notices information 146 prepared by the districts food service administration regarding 147 the availability of free available school meals breakfast 148 programs. The information shall be communicated through school 149 announcements and notices sent to all parents. 150 (5)(8)A district school board may operate its free school 151 meal a breakfast program providing for food preparation at the 152 school site or in central locations with distribution to 153 designated satellite schools, or any combination thereof. 154 Section 3.Subsection (14) of section 595.404, Florida 155 Statutes, is amended to read: 156 595.404School food and other nutrition programs; powers 157 and duties of the department.The department has the following 158 powers and duties: 159 (14)To collect data on food purchased through the programs 160 defined and described in ss. 595.402(7) ss. 595.402(3) and 161 595.406 and to publish that data annually. 162 Section 4.This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.