Relating to free school breakfast and lunch for students eligible to receive reduced price meals under federal programs at public schools, certain charter schools, and certain nonpublic schools and making an appropriation

This bill relates to free school breakfast and lunch for students eligible to receive reduced price meals under federal programs at public schools, certain charter schools, and certain nonpublic schools. Code chapter 283A requires public schools, including charter schools, to operate or provide for the operation of a lunch program according to department of education guidelines, and makes the operation or provision of a lunch program optional for nonpublic schools. Code chapter 283A makes the operation or provision of a school breakfast program according to department of education guidelines optional for public schools, including charter schools, and nonpublic schools. The bill prohibits any school, including charter schools that participate in a United States department of agriculture school meal program, from collecting payment from a student for a reduced price breakfast or reduced price lunch the student is eligible to receive under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act of 1946 or the Child Nutrition Act of 1966. The bill requires the department of education to distribute to each school operating a school breakfast program an amount equal to the difference between the federal reimbursement rate for a free breakfast minus the federal reimbursement rate for a reduced price breakfast multiplied by the number of breakfasts provided by the school or nonpublic school for free pursuant to the bill. The bill makes a similar requirement for reduced price lunches. The bill creates a standing appropriation from the general fund of the state to the department of education in an amount as necessary to pay for the costs of such required distributions.