ENROLLED
2015 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 81
BY REPRESENTATIVE THIERRY
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To create the Task Force on Summer Hunger to study the strategies and best procedures by
which the state and individual school districts can increase awareness of and
participation in the United States Department of Agriculture's Summer Food Service
Program in areas with high rates of food insecurity and to provide for a written report
of findings and recommendations to the House Committee on Education and the
Senate Committee on Education not later than sixty days prior to the beginning of
the 2016 Regular Session of the Legislature of Louisiana.
WHEREAS, only fifty-five percent of children who eat free or reduced price lunch
in the state of Louisiana receive school breakfast, and only nine percent of children who eat
free or reduced price lunch receive summer meals; and
WHEREAS, the Summer Food Service Program is a federally funded program
administered by the state Department of Education that ensures that low-income children
continue to receive nutritious meals when school is not in session; and
WHEREAS, this summer, the program will serve more than two hundred million free
meals nationwide at approved program sites, which are places in a community where
children receive meals in a safe and supervised environment; and
WHEREAS, in 2011, an estimated thirty-five thousand students who received free
or reduced price lunch in Louisiana lived in a parish without such sites; and
WHEREAS, it is imperative that a group of experts be convened to conduct a
thorough investigation of strategies and procedures for increasing awareness of and
participation in the United States Department of Agriculture's Summer Food Service
Program in order to ensure that students in Louisiana receive nutritious summer meals.
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THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
create the Task Force on Summer Hunger to study the strategies and procedures by which
the state and individual school districts can increase awareness of and participation in the
United States Department of Agriculture's Summer Food Service Program in areas with high
rates of food insecurity.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force shall be chaired by the director
of the state Department of Education Division of Nutrition Support and shall be composed
of the following members:
(1) The chairman of the House Committee on Education.
(2) The chairman of the Senate Committee on Education.
(3) The superintendent of the East Baton Rouge Parish School District or his
designee.
(4) The superintendent of the Recovery School District or his designee.
(5) The superintendent of the Caddo Parish School District or his designee.
(6) The superintendent of the Cameron Parish School District or his designee.
(7) The superintendent of the Caldwell Parish School District or his designee.
(8) The superintendent of the Terrebonne Parish School District or his designee.
(9) A representative of the Louisiana Food Bank Association.
(10) A representative of the Louisiana Association of United Ways.
(11) A representative of the Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force shall submit a written report of
findings and recommendations to the House Committee on Education and the Senate
Committee on Education not later than sixty days prior to the beginning of the 2016 Regular
Session of the Legislature of Louisiana and that such recommendations shall include but not
be limited to those relative to the following:
(1) The best practices to address the special challenges present in operating the
Summer Food Service Program in rural areas, including recommendations relative to
transportation in rural areas and strategies to maintain participation at a high enough level
to hold down costs per meal.
(2) The Community Eligibility Provision of the National School Lunch Program.
(3) The Seamless Summer Option of the Summer Food Service Program.
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(4) The eligibility of homeless parents and children to participate in the Summer
Food Service Program.
(5) The recruitment and retention of sponsors for the Summer Food Service
Program.
(6) The involvement of school districts, churches, community centers, summer camp
programs, and residential programs.
(7) The promotion of the Summer Free Lunch Program and strategies to increase
community awareness and participation.
(8) Legislation, if any, relative to the issue.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the state superintendent of education shall be
responsible for designating state Department of Education staff to assist the task force in
performing its duties.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the
entities named in this Resolution to serve or be represented on the task force.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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