II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1431
To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to improve
program requirements and direct certification, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL10, 2025
Mr. F
ETTERMANintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
A BILL
To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch
Act to improve program requirements and direct certifi-
cation, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘School Meal Mod-4
ernization and Hunger Elimination Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. DIRECT CERTIFICATION. 6
Section 9(b) of the Richard B. Russell National 7
School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)) is amended— 8
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(1) in paragraph (4)(F)(iii)(II)(bb), by insert-1
ing ‘‘in not more than 3 school years’’ after ‘‘meas-2
ures’’; and 3
(2) in paragraph (5)— 4
(A) in the paragraph heading, by striking 5
‘‘D
ISCRETIONARY CERTIFICATION ’’ and insert-6
ing ‘‘D
IRECT CERTIFICATION OF ADDITIONAL 7
LOW-INCOME CHILDREN’’; 8
(B) in the matter preceding subparagraph 9
(A), by striking ‘‘may certify’’ and inserting 10
‘‘(including any school operated by the Bureau 11
of Indian Education) shall certify’’; 12
(C) in subparagraph (B), by inserting a 13
closing parenthesis before the semicolon at the 14
end; 15
(D) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘or’’ 16
at the end; and 17
(E) in subparagraph (E)— 18
(i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 19
the end; 20
(ii) in clause (ii)— 21
(I) by striking ‘‘who’’ and insert-22
ing ‘‘whom’’; and 23
(II) by striking the period at the 24
end and inserting a semicolon; and 25
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(iii) by adding at the end the fol-1
lowing: 2
‘‘(iii) a child whose placement with a care-3
giver was carried out with the involvement of 4
an agency that administers a State plan under 5
part B or E of title IV of the Social Security 6
Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) or a Tribal child 7
welfare agency, without regard to whether the 8
agency is responsible for the care and place-9
ment of the child; 10
‘‘(iv) a child for whom an adoption assist-11
ance payment is made under section 473(a) of 12
the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 673(a)) or 13
under a similar State-funded or State-operated 14
program, as determined by the Secretary; 15
‘‘(v) a child for whom a kinship guardian-16
ship assistance payment is made under section 17
473(d) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 18
673(d)) or under a similar State-funded or 19
State-operated program, as determined by the 20
Secretary, without regard to whether the child 21
was previously in foster care; or 22
‘‘(vi) a child of a family that— 23
‘‘(I) lives in housing dedicated to low- 24
income families with a caregiver who is a 25
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grandparent or another older person that 1
cares for the child full-time; or 2
‘‘(II) receives housing or housing as-3
sistance under the Native American Hous-4
ing Assistance and Self-Determination Act 5
of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4101 et seq.); or 6
‘‘(F) a child who receives supplemental se-7
curity income payments under title XVI of the 8
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1381 et seq.).’’. 9
SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY OF TRANSFERRED CHILDREN; RETRO-10
ACTIVE REIMBURSEMENT. 11
Section 9(b)(9) of the Richard B. Russell National 12
School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(9)) is amended— 13
(1) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as sub-14
paragraph (D); 15
(2) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the fol-16
lowing: 17
‘‘(C) E
LIGIBILITY OF TRANSFERRED CHIL -18
DREN.— 19
‘‘(i) D
EFINITION OF COVERED 20
CHILD.—In this subparagraph, the term 21
‘covered child’ means a child that— 22
‘‘(I) has been determined eligible 23
for free or reduced price meals under 24
this Act by a local educational agency 25
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(referred to in this subparagraph as 1
the ‘original local educational agen-2
cy’); and 3
‘‘(II) transfers to another school 4
that is under the jurisdiction of a dif-5
ferent local educational agency (re-6
ferred to in this subparagraph as the 7
‘new local educational agency’). 8
‘‘(ii) E
LIGIBILITY.—An eligibility de-9
termination made by an original local edu-10
cational agency with respect to a covered 11
child shall be transferred to, and honored 12
by, the new local educational agency, in-13
cluding the period for which that deter-14
mination was authorized, subject to an ex-15
tension under clause (iii). 16
‘‘(iii) E
XTENSION OF DURATION .—A 17
new local educational agency shall honor 18
the eligibility determination for a covered 19
child under clause (ii) for a period that is 20
1 year longer than the period for which 21
that determination was authorized by the 22
original local educational agency if the cov-23
ered child began living with a caregiver— 24
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‘‘(I) during the 12-month period 1
preceding the date on which the cov-2
ered child is enrolled in a school under 3
the jurisdiction of a new local edu-4
cational agency; and 5
‘‘(II) who is a grandparent or 6
other relative and— 7
‘‘(aa) has legal authority to 8
secure services for the child 9
through an educational or 10
healthcare consent affidavit, 11
power of attorney, or other legal 12
documentation; or 13
‘‘(bb) has legal custody of 14
the child or has commenced the 15
process of seeking legal custody 16
of the child in a court of law.’’; 17
(3) in subparagraph (D) (as so redesignated)— 18
(A) by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as 19
subclauses (I) and (II), respectively, and in-20
denting appropriately; 21
(B) in the matter preceding subclause (I) 22
(as so redesignated), by striking ‘‘Except as’’ 23
and all that follows through ‘‘(3)(H)(ii)’’ and 24
inserting the following: 25
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‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as other-1
wise specified in clause (ii), subparagraph 2
(C), subparagraphs (E) and (H)(ii) of 3
paragraph (3)’’; and 4
(C) by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘(ii) E
XTENSION FOR CERTAIN CHIL -6
DREN.—A school food authority shall ex-7
tend the eligibility determination made by 8
a local educational agency with respect to 9
a child for a period that is 1 year longer 10
than the period for which that determina-11
tion was authorized by the local edu-12
cational agency, if the child began living 13
with a caregiver— 14
‘‘(I) during the 12-month period 15
preceding the date on which the cov-16
ered child is enrolled in the new 17
school; and 18
‘‘(II) who is a grandparent or 19
other relative and— 20
‘‘(aa) has legal authority to 21
secure services for the child 22
through an educational or 23
healthcare consent affidavit, 24
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power of attorney, or other legal 1
documentation; or 2
‘‘(bb) has legal custody of 3
the child or has commenced the 4
process of seeking legal custody 5
of the child in a court of law.’’; 6
and 7
(4) by adding at the end the following: 8
‘‘(E) R
ETROACTIVE REIMBURSEMENT .— 9
‘‘(i) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subpara-10
graph: 11
‘‘(I) C
HANGE IN ELIGIBILITY.— 12
The term ‘change in eligibility’ means, 13
with respect to eligibility for the 14
school lunch program under this 15
Act— 16
‘‘(aa) a change from eligi-17
bility for reduced price meals to 18
eligibility for free meals; and 19
‘‘(bb) a change from non-20
eligibility to eligibility for free or 21
reduced price meals. 22
‘‘(II) M
EAL CLAIM.—The term 23
‘meal claim’ means any documenta-24
tion provided by a school food author-25
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ity to a State agency in order to re-1
ceive reimbursement under this Act 2
for the cost of a meal served to a 3
child by the school food authority. 4
‘‘(III) P
REVIOUSLY SUB -5
MITTED.—The term ‘previously sub-6
mitted’, with respect to a meal claim, 7
means a meal claim submitted on or 8
after the retroactive date. 9
‘‘(IV) R
ETROACTIVE DATE.—The 10
term ‘retroactive date’ means the first 11
day of the current school year. 12
‘‘(ii) R
ETROACTIVITY.— 13
‘‘(I) S
UBMISSION OF MEAL 14
CLAIMS.—A local educational agency 15
shall— 16
‘‘(aa) revise and resubmit a 17
previously submitted meal claim 18
to reflect a change in eligibility 19
described in subclause (i)(I)(aa) 20
of a child; and 21
‘‘(bb) submit a meal claim 22
for any meal provided on or after 23
the retroactive date for a child 24
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that has a change of eligibility 1
described in subclause (i)(I)(bb). 2
‘‘(II) R
EIMBURSEMENT BY SEC -3
RETARY.—The Secretary shall reim-4
burse each meal claim submitted by a 5
local educational agency under sub-6
clause (I). 7
‘‘(iii) R
EIMBURSEMENT TO FAMI -8
LIES.—A local educational agency that re-9
ceives a reimbursement under clause 10
(ii)(II) shall reimburse the household of a 11
child for any fees paid by the household on 12
or after the retroactive date and prior to 13
the change in eligibility of the child.’’. 14
SEC. 4. EXPANDING AUTOMATIC ELIGIBILITY. 15
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 9(b)(12)(A) of the Rich-16
ard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 17
1758(b)(12)(A)) is amended— 18
(1) by conforming the margins of clauses (iv) 19
through (vii) to the margin of clause (iii); and 20
(2) in clause (vii)— 21
(A) in subclause (I), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 22
the end; 23
(B) in subclause (II)— 24
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(i) by striking ‘‘who’’ and inserting 1
‘‘whom’’; and 2
(ii) by striking the period at the end 3
and inserting a semicolon; and 4
(C) by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘(III) a child whose placement with a 6
caregiver was carried out with the involve-7
ment of an agency that administers a 8
State plan under part B or E of title IV 9
of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 10
et seq.) or a Tribal child welfare agency, 11
without regard to whether the agency is re-12
sponsible for the care and placement of the 13
child; 14
‘‘(IV) a child for whom an adoption 15
assistance payment is made under section 16
473(a) of the Social Security Act (42 17
U.S.C. 673(a)) or under a similar State- 18
funded or State-operated program, as de-19
termined by the Secretary; 20
‘‘(V) a child for whom a kinship 21
guardianship assistance payment is made 22
under section 473(d) of the Social Security 23
Act (42 U.S.C. 673(d)) or under a similar 24
State-funded or State-operated program, 25
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as determined by the Secretary, without 1
regard to whether the child was previously 2
in foster care; or 3
‘‘(VI) a child of a family that— 4
‘‘(aa) lives in housing dedicated 5
to low-income families with a care-6
giver who is a grandparent or another 7
older person that cares for the child 8
full-time; or 9
‘‘(bb) receives housing or housing 10
assistance under the Native American 11
Housing Assistance and Self-Deter-12
mination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 13
4101 et seq.).’’. 14
(b) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.—Section 9(d)(2) of 15
the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 16
U.S.C. 1758(d)(2)) is amended— 17
(1) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘(iv) or 18
(v)’’ and inserting ‘‘(ii), (iii), (iv), (v), or (vii)’’; 19
(2) in subparagraph (E), by adding ‘‘or’’ after 20
the semicolon; 21
(3) by striking subparagraph (F); and 22
(4) by redesignating subparagraph (G) as sub-23
paragraph (F) and conforming the margin of the 24
subparagraph appropriately. 25
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SEC. 5. UNIVERSAL MEDICAID DIRECT CERTIFICATION. 1
Section 9(b)(15) of the Richard B. Russell National 2
School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(15)) is amended— 3
(1) in subparagraph (A)— 4
(A) by striking clause (i) and inserting the 5
following: 6
‘‘(i) E
LIGIBLE CHILD.— 7
‘‘(I) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘el-8
igible child’ means a child who— 9
‘‘(aa)(AA) is eligible for and 10
receiving medical assistance 11
under the Medicaid program; and 12
‘‘(BB) is a member of a 13
family with an income as meas-14
ured by the Medicaid program 15
that does not exceed, in the case 16
of eligibility for free meals, 133 17
percent of the poverty line (as 18
defined in section 673(2) of the 19
Community Services Block Grant 20
Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2)), includ-21
ing any revision required by such 22
section) applicable to a family of 23
the size used for purposes of de-24
termining eligibility for the Med-25
icaid program, or, in the case of 26
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eligibility for reduced price meals, 1
the applicable family size income 2
level under the income eligibility 3
guidelines for reduced price 4
meals; or 5
‘‘(bb) is a member of a 6
household (as that term is de-7
fined in section 245.2 of title 7, 8
Code of Federal Regulations (or 9
successor regulations)) with a 10
child described in item (aa). 11
‘‘(II) O
THER CHILDREN .—The 12
term ‘eligible child’ includes a child 13
who is eligible for and receiving med-14
ical assistance under the Medicaid 15
program under subclause (I) of sec-16
tion 1902(a)(10)(A)(i) of the Social 17
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 18
1396a(a)(10)(A)(i))— 19
‘‘(aa) on the basis of receiv-20
ing aid or assistance under the 21
State plan approved under part 22
E of title IV of that Act (42 23
U.S.C. 670 et seq.); 24
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‘‘(bb) by reason of section 1
473(b) of that Act (42 U.S.C. 2
673(b)); or 3
‘‘(cc) under subclause (II) of 4
section 1902(a)(10)(A)(i) of that 5
Act (42 U.S.C. 6
1396a(a)(10)(A)(i)).’’; and 7
(B) by adding at the end the following: 8
‘‘(iii) W
ITHOUT FURTHER APPLICA -9
TION.—The term ‘without further applica-10
tion’ has the meaning given the term in 11
paragraph (4)(G).’’; and 12
(2) by striking subparagraphs (B) through (H) 13
and inserting the following: 14
‘‘(B) A
GREEMENT.—For the school year 15
beginning on July 1, 2025, and each school 16
year thereafter, each State shall enter into an 17
agreement described in subparagraph (C) with 18
the 1 or more State agencies conducting eligi-19
bility determinations for the Medicaid program. 20
‘‘(C) P
ROCEDURES.— 21
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to sub-22
paragraph (D) and paragraph (6), an 23
agreement entered into under subpara-24
graph (B) shall establish procedures under 25
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which an eligible child shall be certified as 1
eligible, without further application, for— 2
‘‘(I) free or reduced price lunch 3
under this Act; and 4
‘‘(II) free or reduced price break-5
fast under section 4 of the Child Nu-6
trition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773). 7
‘‘(ii) F
REE MEALS.—Each agreement 8
entered into under subparagraph (B) shall 9
ensure that a child who is simultaneously 10
eligible for reduced price meals under this 11
paragraph or based on an income eligibility 12
determination, and for free meals based on 13
documentation provided under subsection 14
(d)(2), shall be certified for free meals. 15
‘‘(D) C
ERTIFICATION.—Subject to para-16
graph (6), and according to an agreement en-17
tered into under subparagraph (B), the local 18
educational agency conducting eligibility deter-19
minations under that agreement shall certify an 20
eligible child as eligible, without further applica-21
tion, for— 22
‘‘(i) free or reduced price lunch under 23
this Act; and 24
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‘‘(ii) free or reduced price breakfast 1
under section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act 2
of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773).’’. 3
SEC. 6. DIRECT CERTIFICATION FOR CHILDREN RECEIVING 4
SOCIAL SECURITY INCOME. 5
Section 9(b) of the Richard B. Russell National 6
School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)) is amended by add-7
ing at the end the following: 8
‘‘(16) D
ATA FROM SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINIS -9
TRATION.—In the case of direct certification under 10
paragraph (5) or (12)(A) of a child who receives 11
supplemental security income payments under title 12
XVI of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1381 et 13
seq.), the Commissioner of Social Security shall pro-14
vide a local educational agency with the data nec-15
essary to certify the child in accordance with a data- 16
sharing agreement between the Commissioner and 17
the State in which the local educational agency is lo-18
cated.’’. 19
SEC. 7. DIRECT CERTIFICATION IMPROVEMENT GRANTS 20
AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE. 21
Section 9(b) of the Richard B. Russell National 22
School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)) (as amended by 23
section 6) is amended by adding at the end the following: 24
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‘‘(17) DIRECT CERTIFICATION IMPROVEMENT 1
GRANTS AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE .— 2
‘‘(A) D
EFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 3
‘‘(i) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘el-4
igible entity’ means— 5
‘‘(I) a State agency; and 6
‘‘(II) a Tribal organization. 7
‘‘(ii) I
NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘In-8
dian Tribe’ has the meaning given the 9
term in section 4 of the Indian Self-Deter-10
mination and Education Assistance Act 11
(25 U.S.C. 5304). 12
‘‘(iii) R
ATE OF DIRECT CERTIFI -13
CATION.—The term ‘rate of direct certifi-14
cation’ means the percentage of children 15
eligible for direct certification under para-16
graphs (4) and (5) for a school year that 17
were directly certified under those para-18
graphs for that school year. 19
‘‘(iv) T
RIBAL ORGANIZATION .—The 20
term ‘Tribal organization’ has the meaning 21
given the term in section 4 of the Indian 22
Self-Determination and Education Assist-23
ance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 24
‘‘(B) G
RANTS.— 25
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‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary 1
shall provide grants to eligible entities that 2
administer the school lunch program under 3
this Act to improve the rate of direct cer-4
tification in the State or Indian Tribe in 5
which the eligible entity is located. 6
‘‘(ii) P
RIORITY.—In providing grants 7
under clause (i), the Secretary shall give 8
priority to States and Tribal organizations 9
with the lowest rates of direct certification. 10
‘‘(iii) U
SE OF FUNDS.—An eligible en-11
tity that receives a grant under clause (i) 12
shall use the grant funds to pay costs re-13
lating to improving the rate of direct cer-14
tification in the State or Indian Tribe, as 15
applicable, including the cost of— 16
‘‘(I) improving technology relat-17
ing to direct certification; 18
‘‘(II) providing technical assist-19
ance to local educational agencies; 20
‘‘(III) newly implementing or re-21
vising a direct certification system or 22
process in the State (including at local 23
educational agencies in the State) or 24
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Indian Tribe, including the cost of 1
equipment; and 2
‘‘(IV) coordinating with multiple 3
public benefits programs to increase 4
the rate of direct certification, includ-5
ing by conducting feasibility studies 6
and demonstration projects under sec-7
tion 18(c). 8
‘‘(C) F
OOD DISTRIBUTION PROGRAM ON 9
INDIAN RESERVATIONS.— 10
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary 11
shall provide grants to States and Tribal 12
organizations administering the food dis-13
tribution program on Indian reservations 14
under section 4(b) of the Food and Nutri-15
tion Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2013(b))— 16
‘‘(I) in the case of a Tribal orga-17
nization, if applicable, to establish a 18
rate of direct certification of children 19
that are members of households re-20
ceiving assistance under that pro-21
gram; or 22
‘‘(II) to improve the rate of di-23
rect certification of children that are 24
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members of households receiving as-1
sistance under that program. 2
‘‘(ii) U
SE OF FUNDS.—A State or 3
Tribal organization receiving a grant under 4
this subparagraph shall use the funds to 5
pay the costs described in subparagraph 6
(B)(iii). 7
‘‘(D) T
ECHNICAL ASSISTANCE .—The Sec-8
retary shall provide technical assistance to as-9
sist the recipients of grants under subpara-10
graphs (B) and (C), and other eligible entities, 11
as appropriate, in improving the rates of direct 12
certification. 13
‘‘(E) F
UNDING.— 14
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—On October 1, 15
2025, out of any funds in the Treasury not 16
otherwise appropriated, the Secretary of 17
the Treasury shall transfer to the Sec-18
retary to carry out this paragraph 19
$28,000,000, to remain available until ex-20
pended. 21
‘‘(ii) F
OOD DISTRIBUTION PROGRAM 22
ON INDIAN RESERVATIONS .—Of the funds 23
transferred to the Secretary under clause 24
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•S 1431 IS
(i), the Secretary shall use not less than 1
$2,000,000 to carry out subparagraph (C). 2
‘‘(iii) T
ECHNICAL ASSISTANCE .—Of 3
the funds transferred to the Secretary 4
under clause (i), the Secretary shall use 5
not more than $3,000,000 to carry out 6
subparagraph (D). 7
‘‘(iv) R
ECEIPT AND ACCEPTANCE .— 8
The Secretary shall be entitled to receive, 9
shall accept, and shall use to carry out this 10
paragraph the funds transferred under 11
clause (i), without further appropriation.’’. 12
SEC. 8. ENHANCING THE COMMUNITY ELIGIBILITY OPTION. 13
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 11(a)(1)(F) of the Rich-14
ard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 15
1759a(a)(1)(F)) is amended— 16
(1) in clause (iv)— 17
(A) in subclause (I)(bb)— 18
(i) by striking ‘‘as of April 1 of the 19
prior school year’’ and inserting ‘‘during 20
the period beginning on April 1 of the 21
prior school year and ending on the last 22
day of that school year’’; and 23
(ii) by striking ‘‘as of April 1 of the 24
school year prior’’ and all that follows 25
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•S 1431 IS
through ‘‘subparagraph’’ and inserting 1
‘‘during the period beginning on April 1 of 2
the covered school year and ending on the 3
last day of the covered school year’’; and 4
(B) by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘(III) D
EFINITION OF COVERED 6
SCHOOL YEAR.—In this clause, the 7
term ‘covered school year’ means the 8
school year prior to the first school 9
year that a school or local educational 10
agency elected to receive special as-11
sistance payments under this subpara-12
graph.’’; 13
(2) by striking clause (vii) and inserting the fol-14
lowing: 15
‘‘(vii) M
ULTIPLIER.—For each school 16
year beginning on or after July 1, 2025, 17
the multiplier shall be 2.5.’’; and 18
(3) in clause (x)— 19
(A) in subclause (I), by striking ‘‘for the 20
next school year if, not later than June 30 of 21
the current school year,’’ and inserting ‘‘if’’; 22
(B) in subclause (II)(aa), by inserting ‘‘, 23
based on counts conducted by schools of identi-24
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•S 1431 IS
fied students beginning on or after April 1 of 1
that school year,’’ after ‘‘clause (viii)’’; and 2
(C) in subclause (IV)(aa), by inserting ‘‘, 3
based on counts conducted by schools of identi-4
fied students beginning on or after April 1 of 5
that school year,’’ after ‘‘clause (viii)’’. 6
(b) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 7
11(a)(1)(F)(xi) of the Richard B. Russell National School 8
Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1759a(a)(1)(F)(xi)) is amended by 9
striking subclause (III). 10
SEC. 9. STATEWIDE FREE UNIVERSAL SCHOOL MEALS DEM-11
ONSTRATION PROJECTS. 12
Section 11(a)(1) of the Richard B. Russell National 13
School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1759a(a)(1)) is amended by 14
adding at the end the following: 15
‘‘(G) S
TATEWIDE FREE UNIVERSAL 16
SCHOOL MEALS DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS .— 17
‘‘(i) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subpara-18
graph: 19
‘‘(I) D
EMONSTRATION 20
PROJECT.—The term ‘demonstration 21
project’ means a demonstration 22
project carried out under clause (ii). 23
‘‘(II) E
LIGIBLE SCHOOL.— 24
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‘‘(aa) IN GENERAL.—The 1
term ‘eligible school’ means a 2
school that participates in the 3
school lunch program under this 4
Act and the school breakfast pro-5
gram under section 4 of the 6
Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 7
U.S.C. 1773). 8
‘‘(bb) E
XCLUSION.—The 9
term ‘eligible school’ does not in-10
clude residential child care insti-11
tutions (as defined in section 12
210.2 of title 7, Code of Federal 13
Regulations (or successor regula-14
tions)). 15
‘‘(III) I
DENTIFIED STUDENTS .— 16
The term ‘identified students’ has the 17
meaning given the term in subpara-18
graph (F)(i). 19
‘‘(IV) S
ELECTED STATE .—The 20
term ‘selected State’ means a State 21
selected to carry out a demonstration 22
project under clause (iii)(I). 23
‘‘(ii) E
STABLISHMENT.—Not later 24
than July 1, 2026, the Secretary shall 25
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•S 1431 IS
carry out demonstration projects in se-1
lected States under which school meals are 2
provided at no charge to every student at 3
an eligible school in the selected State. 4
‘‘(iii) S
TATE SELECTION.— 5
‘‘(I) I
N GENERAL.—The Sec-6
retary shall select not more than 5 7
States to each carry out a demonstra-8
tion project. 9
‘‘(II) A
PPLICATIONS.—A State 10
seeking to carry out a demonstration 11
project shall submit to the Secretary 12
an application at such time, in such 13
manner, and containing such informa-14
tion as the Secretary may require. 15
‘‘(III) P
RIORITY.—In carrying 16
out subclause (I), the Secretary shall 17
give priority to a State based on— 18
‘‘(aa) the level of childhood 19
poverty in the State; 20
‘‘(bb) the extent to which 21
the State has implemented sub-22
paragraph (F); 23
‘‘(cc) the extent to which the 24
direct certification rate of the 25
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•S 1431 IS
State meets the required percent-1
age (as defined in section 2
9(b)(4)(F)(i)); 3
‘‘(dd) the extent to which 4
the State demonstrates a com-5
mitment to providing technical 6
assistance to local educational 7
agencies that will implement the 8
demonstration project in the 9
State; and 10
‘‘(ee) the extent to which the 11
State demonstrates a commit-12
ment to providing non-Federal 13
funding under clause (vi)(III). 14
‘‘(iv) S
TART DATE.—A demonstration 15
project shall begin in a selected State on 16
the first day of the school year in that 17
State. 18
‘‘(v) S
PECIAL ASSISTANCE PAY -19
MENTS.— 20
‘‘(I) F
IRST YEAR.—For each 21
month of the first school year during 22
which a demonstration project is car-23
ried out, a selected State shall receive 24
special assistance payments at the 25
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•S 1431 IS
rate for free meals for a percentage of 1
all reimbursable meals served in eligi-2
ble schools in the State in an amount 3
equal to the product obtained by mul-4
tiplying— 5
‘‘(aa) 1.9; and 6
‘‘(bb) the percentage of 7
identified students in eligible 8
schools in the State as of the last 9
day of the prior school year, up 10
to a maximum of 100 percent. 11
‘‘(II) S
UBSEQUENT YEARS .—For 12
each month of the second school year 13
and each subsequent school year dur-14
ing which a demonstration project is 15
carried out, a selected State shall re-16
ceive special assistance payments at 17
the rate for free meals for a percent-18
age of all reimbursable meals served 19
in eligible schools in the State in an 20
amount equal to the product obtained 21
by multiplying— 22
‘‘(aa) 1.9; and 23
‘‘(bb) the higher of— 24
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•S 1431 IS
‘‘(AA) the percentage 1
of identified students in eli-2
gible schools as of the last 3
day of the prior school year; 4
and 5
‘‘(BB) the percentage 6
of identified students in eli-7
gible schools as of the last 8
day of the school year prior 9
to the first school year dur-10
ing which a demonstration 11
project is carried out, up to 12
a maximum of 100 percent. 13
‘‘(III) P
AYMENT FOR OTHER 14
MEALS.—With respect to the reim-15
bursable meals described in subclauses 16
(I) and (II) for which a selected State 17
is not receiving special assistance pay-18
ments under this clause, the reim-19
bursement rate shall be the rate pro-20
vided under section 4. 21
‘‘(IV) P
AYMENTS IN LIEU OF.—A 22
special assistance payment made 23
under this clause shall be in lieu of 24
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•S 1431 IS
any other special assistance payment 1
made under this paragraph. 2
‘‘(vi) S
TATE IMPLEMENTATION .— 3
‘‘(I) P
RELIMINARY ACTIVITIES.— 4
Each selected State shall, in the 5
school year preceding the first school 6
year during which the demonstration 7
project shall be carried out in the 8
State— 9
‘‘(aa) identify each eligible 10
school in the State; 11
‘‘(bb) in consultation with 12
the Secretary, combine the per-13
centage of identified students 14
across eligible schools for the 15
purpose of calculating the max-16
imum reimbursement rate to en-17
sure that the special assistance 18
payments received under clause 19
(v) are for the maximum amount; 20
‘‘(cc) inform local edu-21
cational agencies of the dem-22
onstration project; and 23
‘‘(dd) coordinate with local 24
educational agencies to provide 25
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•S 1431 IS
information about the demonstra-1
tion project to parents or guard-2
ians of students attending eligible 3
schools. 4
‘‘(II) M
EAL SERVICE.—As part 5
of a demonstration project, an eligible 6
school in a selected State— 7
‘‘(aa) shall not collect appli-8
cations for free and reduced price 9
lunches under this Act; and 10
‘‘(bb) shall make school 11
meals available to all children at 12
the school at no charge. 13
‘‘(III) N
ON-FEDERAL FUND -14
ING.— 15
‘‘(aa) I
N GENERAL.—Each 16
selected State may support the 17
demonstration project using— 18
‘‘(AA) funds from State 19
and local sources that are 20
used for the maintenance of 21
the free lunch program 22
under this Act and the free 23
breakfast program under 24
section 4 of the Child Nutri-25
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•S 1431 IS
tion Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1
1773); and 2
‘‘(BB) State revenues 3
appropriated or used for 4
program purposes under sec-5
tion 7. 6
‘‘(bb) N
ON-FEDERAL CON-7
TRIBUTIONS.—In addition to the 8
funding received under this Act 9
and the Child Nutrition Act of 10
1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.), 11
each selected State shall provide 12
funding from non-Federal 13
sources to ensure that local edu-14
cational agencies in the State re-15
ceive the free reimbursement rate 16
for not less than 90 percent of 17
the meals served at eligible 18
schools. 19
‘‘(cc) C
ONTINUATION OF 20
FREE RATE.—A selected State 21
that receives special assistance 22
payments at the free reimburse-23
ment rate under subparagraph 24
(F) for more than 90 percent of 25
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•S 1431 IS
the meals served at eligible 1
schools during the school year 2
preceding the first school year 3
during which a demonstration 4
project is carried out shall con-5
tinue to receive the free reim-6
bursement rate for not less than 7
the same percentage of meals in 8
each school year during which a 9
demonstration project is carried 10
out. 11
‘‘(vii) R
EPORT.— 12
‘‘(I) I
N GENERAL.—Not later 13
than September 30, 2030, the Sec-14
retary, acting through the Adminis-15
trator of the Food and Nutrition 16
Service, shall submit to the Com-17
mittee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and 18
Forestry of the Senate and the Com-19
mittees on Agriculture and Education 20
and Labor of the House of Represent-21
atives a report that evaluates the im-22
pact of each demonstration project in 23
a selected State with respect to— 24
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•S 1431 IS
‘‘(aa) academic achievement, 1
absenteeism, tardiness, the school 2
environment, child food insecu-3
rity in the selected State, and 4
other key factors identified in 5
consultation with the Secretary 6
of Education; 7
‘‘(bb) the rate of participa-8
tion in the free lunch program 9
under this Act and the free 10
breakfast program under section 11
4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 12
1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773) among 13
identified students and other stu-14
dents; 15
‘‘(cc) school meal services, 16
finances, and operations in the 17
selected State; 18
‘‘(dd) administrative costs to 19
the selected State and the school 20
food authorities participating in 21
the demonstration project; and 22
‘‘(ee) the integrity of the op-23
eration of the free lunch program 24
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•S 1431 IS
under this Act in the selected 1
State. 2
‘‘(II) F
UNDING.— 3
‘‘(aa) I
N GENERAL.—On Oc-4
tober 1, 2026, out of any funds 5
in the Treasury not otherwise ap-6
propriated, the Secretary of the 7
Treasury shall transfer to the 8
Secretary to carry out this clause 9
$3,000,000, to remain available 10
until September 30, 2030. 11
‘‘(bb) R
ECEIPT AND AC -12
CEPTANCE.—The Secretary shall 13
be entitled to receive, shall ac-14
cept, and shall use to carry out 15
this clause the funds transferred 16
under item (aa), without further 17
appropriation.’’. 18
SEC. 10. STATE PERFORMANCE ON ENROLLING CHILDREN 19
RECEIVING PROGRAM BENEFITS FOR FREE 20
SCHOOL MEALS. 21
Section 4301(b) of the Food, Conservation, and En-22
ergy Act of 2008 (42 U.S.C. 1758a(b)) is amended— 23
(1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 24
end; 25
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•S 1431 IS
(2) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at 1
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 2
(3) by adding at the end the following: 3
‘‘(4) in the case of a State identified under 4
clause (ii)(I) of section 9(b)(4)(F) of the Richard B. 5
Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 6
1758(b)(4)(F)), a description of— 7
‘‘(A) the technical assistance provided to 8
the State; and 9
‘‘(B) the progress made by the State in 10
implementing the measures and meeting the 11
goals described in items (aa) through (cc) of 12
clause (iii)(II) of that section.’’. 13
Æ
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