| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to school food service programs; amending |
| 3 | s. 1006.06, F.S.; requiring school breakfast programs in |
| 4 | middle and high schools; providing procedures for school |
| 5 | breakfast programs; specifying requirements for setting |
| 6 | prices of breakfast meals; requiring district school |
| 7 | boards to consider policies for the provision of |
| 8 | universal-free school breakfast meals in certain schools; |
| 9 | requiring information to be communicated to students and |
| 10 | parents; clarifying the allocation of funds for school |
| 11 | breakfast programs; directing the Office of Program Policy |
| 12 | Analysis and Government Accountability to submit a report |
| 13 | on school district food service programs; providing an |
| 14 | effective date. |
| 15 |
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| 16 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 17 |
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| 18 | Section 1. Subsection (5) of section 1006.06, Florida |
| 19 | Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 20 | 1006.06 School food service programs.-- |
| 21 | (5)(a) Each district school board shall implement school |
| 22 | breakfast programs in all elementary schools that make breakfast |
| 23 | meals available to all students in kindergarten through grade 6 |
| 24 | in each district school, unless the elementary school. By the |
| 25 | beginning of the 2010-2011 school year, the school breakfast |
| 26 | programs shall make breakfast meals available to all students in |
| 27 | each elementary, middle, and high school. Each school shall, to |
| 28 | the maximum extent practicable, make breakfast meals available |
| 29 | to students at an alternative site location, which may include, |
| 30 | but need not be limited to, alternative breakfast options as |
| 31 | described in publications of the Food and Nutrition Service of |
| 32 | the United States Department of Agriculture for the federal |
| 33 | School Breakfast Program goes only through grade 5, in which |
| 34 | case the requirement shall apply only through grade 5. Each |
| 35 | district school board shall implement breakfast programs in all |
| 36 | elementary schools in which students are eligible for free and |
| 37 | reduced price lunch meals, to the extent specifically funded in |
| 38 | the General Appropriations Act. |
| 39 | (b) Beginning with the 2009-2010 school year, each school |
| 40 | district must annually set prices for breakfast meals at rates |
| 41 | that, combined with federal reimbursements, are sufficient to |
| 42 | defray costs of school breakfast programs without requiring |
| 43 | allocations from the district's operating funds, except if the |
| 44 | district school board approves lower rates. |
| 45 | (c) Each district school board is encouraged to provide |
| 46 | universal-free school breakfast meals to all students in each |
| 47 | elementary, middle, and high school. By the beginning of the |
| 48 | 2010-2011 school year, each district school board shall approve |
| 49 | or disapprove a policy, after receiving public testimony |
| 50 | concerning the proposed policy at two or more regular meetings, |
| 51 | which makes universal-free school breakfast meals available to |
| 52 | all students in each elementary, middle, and high school in |
| 53 | which 80 percent or more of the students are eligible for free |
| 54 | or reduced-price meals. |
| 55 | (d) Beginning with the 2009-2010 school year, each |
| 56 | elementary, middle, and high school shall make a breakfast meal |
| 57 | available if a student arrives at school on the school bus less |
| 58 | than 15 minutes before the first bell rings and shall allow the |
| 59 | student at least 15 minutes to eat the breakfast. |
| 60 | (e) Each school district shall annually provide to all |
| 61 | students in each elementary, middle, and high school information |
| 62 | prepared by the district's food service administration regarding |
| 63 | its school breakfast programs. The information shall be |
| 64 | communicated through school announcements and written notice |
| 65 | sent to all parents. |
| 66 | (f) A district school board may operate a breakfast |
| 67 | program providing for food preparation at the school site or in |
| 68 | central locations with distribution to designated satellite |
| 69 | schools or any combination thereof. |
| 70 | (g)(b) The commissioner shall make every reasonable effort |
| 71 | to ensure that any school designated a "severe need school" |
| 72 | receives the highest rate of reimbursement to which it is |
| 73 | entitled under pursuant to 42 U.S.C. s. 1773 for each free and |
| 74 | reduced price breakfast meal served. |
| 75 | (h)(c) The department shall annually allocate among the |
| 76 | school districts funds provided from the calculate and |
| 77 | distribute a school district breakfast supplement for each |
| 78 | school year by multiplying the state breakfast rate as specified |
| 79 | in the General Appropriations Act based on each district's total |
| 80 | by the number of free and reduced-price reduced price breakfast |
| 81 | meals served. |
| 82 | (d) The Legislature shall provide sufficient funds in the |
| 83 | General Appropriations Act to reimburse participating school |
| 84 | districts for the difference between the average federal |
| 85 | reimbursement for free and reduced price breakfasts and the |
| 86 | average statewide cost for breakfasts. |
| 87 | Section 2. (1) The Office of Program Policy Analysis and |
| 88 | Government Accountability, by January 15, 2009, shall submit a |
| 89 | report to the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker |
| 90 | of the House of Representatives, the members of the State Board |
| 91 | of Education, and the Commissioner of Education on school |
| 92 | district food service programs. The report shall: |
| 93 | (a) Estimate the district-by-district cost if each school |
| 94 | district implements a universal-free school breakfast program in |
| 95 | all elementary, middle, and high schools. The estimate shall |
| 96 | consider the marginal costs per breakfast meal, anticipated |
| 97 | increases in student participation rates, expected reductions in |
| 98 | the marginal costs per breakfast meal which result from |
| 99 | increased economies of scale, offsetting federal reimbursements, |
| 100 | impact on the marginal costs per breakfast meal of limiting |
| 101 | participation in a universal-free school breakfast program to |
| 102 | schools having various percentages of students eligible for free |
| 103 | or reduced-price meals, and impact on student participation |
| 104 | rates and marginal costs per breakfast meal of alternatives to |
| 105 | serving meals in school cafeterias. The estimate shall also |
| 106 | consider the experiences of specific Florida schools and school |
| 107 | districts implementing a universal-free school breakfast |
| 108 | program. |
| 109 | (b) Determine the extent to which school district food |
| 110 | service programs are fiscally self-sufficient or require |
| 111 | financial support from other district operating funds. |
| 112 | (c) Examine for at least the previous 5 years the prices |
| 113 | that school food service programs charged for meals, the |
| 114 | frequency of price-level increases, and the relationship between |
| 115 | increases in the costs per meal and price-level increases. |
| 116 | (d) Identify best practices for the efficient and |
| 117 | effective operation of school district food service programs, |
| 118 | which shall include strategies for a school district to reduce |
| 119 | the costs of its food service programs without sacrificing the |
| 120 | nutritional value of meals, including, but not limited to, the |
| 121 | use of alternatives to the daily counting of meals at the point |
| 122 | of service which are authorized under 7 C.F.R. s. 210.7(c)(2). |
| 123 | (e) Evaluate the methodology and forms used for school |
| 124 | district food service programs to report their revenues and |
| 125 | expenditures to the Department of Education. The evaluation |
| 126 | shall assess whether the forms require food service programs to |
| 127 | accurately report their total operating costs, including, but |
| 128 | not limited to, food, labor, equipment, utilities, janitorial |
| 129 | services, overhead, and indirect costs; whether the calculations |
| 130 | submitted on the forms accurately report the average costs per |
| 131 | meal; and whether information obtained from the forms as |
| 132 | submitted to the department allows an equitable district-by- |
| 133 | district comparison of the average costs per meal. |
| 134 | (f) Assess the methodology used to allocate funds provided |
| 135 | in the General Appropriations Act for school district food |
| 136 | service programs and the extent to which the allocation |
| 137 | methodology creates incentives for the fiscal efficiency of the |
| 138 | food service programs. |
| 139 | (g) Evaluate the organizational structure of the state |
| 140 | for, and the state implementation and programmatic management |
| 141 | of, federal programs administered by the Food and Nutrition |
| 142 | Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, |
| 143 | including, but not limited to, the National School Lunch |
| 144 | Program, the federal School Breakfast Program, and the federal |
| 145 | Summer Food Service Program. |
| 146 | (2) The Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government |
| 147 | Accountability shall consult with staff of the education |
| 148 | committees of the Senate and House of Representatives, the |
| 149 | Department of Education, the Department of Agriculture and |
| 150 | Consumer Services, and the Auditor General concerning the |
| 151 | research design for the report. |
| 152 | Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2008. |