Florida Senate - 2025 SB 74
By Senator Berman
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A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to a universal free school breakfast 2
and lunch program; amending s. 595.402, F.S.; defining 3
and redefining terms; amending s. 595.405, F.S.; 4
requiring the Department of Agriculture and Consumer 5
Services, subject to the appropriation of funds by the 6
Legislature, to establish and operate a program to 7
provide universal free school breakfast and lunch 8
meals to all public school students; specifying 9
requirements for school districts; deleting provisions 10
requiring school districts to implement and charge 11
students for a breakfast program; deleting provisions 12
requiring only certain school districts to implement a 13
universal free school breakfast program and 14
encouraging districts to provide free breakfast meals; 15
revising the information that school districts are 16
required to provide to parents regarding the 17
availability of certain school meals, to conform to 18
changes made by the act; authorizing school districts 19
to operate free school meal programs using offsite 20
food preparation locations; amending s. 595.404, F.S.; 21
conforming a cross-reference; providing an effective 22
date. 23
24
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 25
26
Section 1. Section 595.402, Florida Statutes, is amended to 27
read: 28
595.402 Definitions.—As used in this chapter, the term: 29 Florida Senate - 2025 SB 74
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(1) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Agriculture. 30
(2) “Community eligibility provision” means the federal 31
program created in 42 U.S.C. s. 1759a(a)(1)(F) which allows a 32
school district to choose to receive federal special assistance 33
payments for school meals in exchange for providing free school 34
meals to all students enrolled in all or selected schools of the 35
school district, if such agencies comply with specified 36
requirements. 37
(3) “Department” means the Department of Agriculture and 38
Consumer Services. 39
(4) “Eligible breakfast and lunch meals” means meals served 40
at breakfast and lunch which meet the nutritional requirements 41
specified in the National School Breakfast Program and 7 C.F.R. 42
s. 210.10, respectively. 43
(5) “National School Breakfast Program” means the federal 44
school breakfast program created in 42 U.S.C. s. 1773, which is 45
administered by the department. 46
(6) “National School Lunch Program” means the federal 47
school lunch program created in the Richard B. Russell National 48
School Lunch Act. 49
(7)(3) “Program” means any one or more of the school food 50
and nutrition service programs that the department has 51
responsibility over including, but not limited to, the National 52
School Lunch Program, the Special Milk Program, the National 53
School Breakfast Program, the Summer Food Service Program, the 54
Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, and any other program that 55
relates to school nutrition. 56
(4) “School breakfast program” means a program authorized 57
by s. 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966, as amended, and 58 Florida Senate - 2025 SB 74
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administered by the department. 59
(8)(5) “School district” means any of the 67 county school 60
districts, including the respective district school board. 61
(9) “Special assistance alternative” means a special 62
nutrition assistance alternative federal reimbursement method 63
authorized by the United States Department of Agriculture 64
pursuant to 42 U.S.C. s. 1759a and 7 C.F.R. part 245, for 65
eligible schools that serve free meals to all enrolled students. 66
The term includes the community eligibility provision. 67
(10)(6) “Sponsor” means any entity that is conducting a 68
program under a current agreement with the department. 69
(11)(7) “Summer nutrition program” means one or more of the 70
programs authorized under 42 U.S.C. s. 1761. 71
(12)(8) “Universal school breakfast and lunch program” 72
means a program that makes breakfast and lunch available at no 73
cost to all students , regardless of their household income. 74
Section 2. Section 595.405, Florida Statutes, is amended to 75
read: 76
595.405 Universal free school breakfast and lunch program 77
School nutrition program requirements .— 78
(1) Each district school board shall consider the 79
recommendations of the district school superintendent and adopt 80
policies to provide for an appropriate food and nutrition 81
program for students consistent with federal law , this section, 82
and department rule rules. 83
(2) Subject to the appropriation of funds by the 84
Legislature, the department shall establish and operate a 85
universal school breakfast and lunch program for all public 86
school students in grades K -12. Each district school board shall 87 Florida Senate - 2025 SB 74
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implement a universal school breakfast and lunch program that 88
offers eligible breakfast and lunch meals, free of charge, 89
school breakfast programs that make breakfast meals available to 90
all students in each school that serves any combination of 91
grades K-12. In implementing the universal school breakfast and 92
lunch program, each school district shall do all of the 93
following: 94
(a) Participate in the National School Breakfast Program 95
and the National School Lunch Program. 96
(b) Provide eligible breakfast and lunch meals at no cost 97
to all public school students in grades K -12 within any school 98
breakfast program or school lunch program operated by the school 99
district. 100
(c) Submit to the department for reimbursement, in a manner 101
determined by the department, information regarding the number 102
of eligible breakfast and lunch meals that each school within 103
the district served to students. 104
(d) Maximize access to federal funds for the cost of the 105
National School Breakfast Program and National School Lunch 106
Program by participating in the community eligibility provision 107
or another special assistance alternative, if eligible, and 108
operate the National School Breakfast Program and the National 109
School Lunch Program in a way that the department determines 110
qualifies for the greatest possible federal funding for eligible 111
breakfast and lunch meals served in the National School 112
Breakfast Program and the National School Lunch Program 113
kindergarten through 5 . 114
(3) Each district school board must annually set prices for 115
breakfast meals at rates that, combined with federal 116 Florida Senate - 2025 SB 74
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reimbursements and state allocations, are sufficient to defray 117
costs of school breakfast programs without requiring allocations 118
from the district’s operating funds, except if the district 119
school board approves lower rates. 120
(4) To increase student participation in the universal 121
school breakfast and lunch program, each school district 122
operating a breakfast program shall: 123
(a) Make a breakfast meal available to if a student who 124
arrives at school on the school bus less than 15 minutes before 125
the first bell rings and shall allow the student at least 15 126
minutes to eat the breakfast. 127
(5) Each district school board is encouraged to provide 128
universal, free school breakfast meals to all students in each 129
elementary, middle, and high school. A universal school 130
breakfast program shall be implemented in each school in which 131
80 percent or more of the students are eligible for free or 132
reduced-price meals, unless the distr ict school board, after 133
considering public testimony at two or more regularly scheduled 134
board meetings, decides not to implement such a program in such 135
schools. 136
(b)(6) To increase school breakfast and universal school 137
breakfast program participation, each district school board 138
must, To the maximum extent practicable, make breakfast meals 139
available to students through alternative service models as 140
described in publications of the Food and Nutrition Service of 141
the United States Department of Agriculture for the federal 142
School Breakfast Program. 143
(4)(7) Each district school board shall , through school 144
announcements and notices, annually provide to all parents 145 Florida Senate - 2025 SB 74
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information prepared by the district’s food service 146
administration regarding the availability of free available 147
school meals breakfast programs. The information shall be 148
communicated through school announcements and notices sent to 149
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
595.404 School 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, 2025. 163