86R12283 CAE-D
By: Ramos H.B. No. 2954
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to school district grace period policies and the provision
of meals to public school students with insufficient balances on
prepaid meal cards or in meal accounts.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 33.908, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 33.908. GRACE PERIOD POLICY FOR EXHAUSTED OR
INSUFFICIENT MEAL CARD OR ACCOUNT BALANCE. (a) In this section,
"regular meal" means a meal for which a school district ordinarily
receives reimbursement under the national free or reduced-price
lunch program established under 42 U.S.C. Section 1751 et seq.
(b) The board of trustees of a school district that allows
students to use a prepaid meal card or account to purchase meals
served at schools in the district shall adopt a grace period policy
regarding the use of the cards or accounts. The policy:
(1) must allow a student whose meal card or account
balance is exhausted or insufficient to continue, for a grace
period determined by the board of at least two weeks, to purchase
regular meals by:
(A) accumulating a negative balance on the
student's card or account; or
(B) otherwise receiving an extension of credit
from the district;
(2) must require the district to make at least three
attempts by telephone or electronic mail during each week of the
grace period to privately:
(A) notify the parent of or person standing in
parental relation to the student that the student's meal card or
account balance is exhausted;
(B) make arrangements with the parent or other
person for payment of negative balances or amounts otherwise due,
including through use of a payment plan; and
(C) assist the parent or other person in
completing an application on behalf of the student for free or
reduced-price meals, if it is determined that the student may be
eligible for free or reduced-price meals;
(3) must require the district to send home with the
student in an unmarked white envelope a written notice of a negative
balance or other amount due and an application for free or
reduced-price meals;
(4) may not permit the district to charge a fee or
interest in connection with meals purchased under Subdivision (1);
and
(5) [(4)] may permit the district to set a schedule
for repayment on the account balance or other amount due if the
district is unable to set a repayment schedule by agreement through
efforts required under Subdivision (2) [as part of the notice to the
parent or person standing in parental relation to the student].
(c) After expiration of the grace period, the school
district may:
(1) permit the student to continue to purchase regular
meals in the manner described by Subsection (b)(1); or
(2) provide the student with alternative meals at no
cost.
(d) A school district that elects to provide alternative
meals must:
(1) privately notify the student's parent or person
standing in parental relation to the student of the district's
action; and
(2) provide those meals through the same serving line
as regular meals.
(e) If a school district provides regular meals to a student
under Subsection (c)(1) and is unable at the end of the school year
to obtain payment for the meals from the student's parent or person
standing in parental relation to the student, the district may pay
the negative balance on the student's meal card or account using
private donations solicited by the district from individuals and
entities for that purpose and maintained in a separate district
account. The amount of any private donations received under this
subsection is in addition to any reimbursement to which the
district is entitled under federal law.
(f) A school district may not publicly identify a student
with a negative balance on a meal card or account and must implement
any action authorized under this section in a manner that does not
stigmatize a student or cause embarrassment. The district's policy
must identify the manner in which the district will prevent
stigmatizing a student or causing embarrassment.
SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2019-2020
school year.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2019.