Bill Text: HI SR163 | 2022 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urging The Department Of Education And State Public Charter School Commission To Prioritize The Hiring Of Dedicated Staff To Manage Federal School Meal Programs.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-0)

Status: (Passed) 2022-06-06 - Certified copies of resolutions sent, 06/06/22. [SR163 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2022-SR163-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	163
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

urging the department of education and state public charter school commission to prioritize the hiring of dedicated staff to manage federal school meal programs.

 

 

     WHEREAS, access to school meals are an important part of a child's health and well-being at school; and

 

     WHEREAS, certain federal programs provide aid for the provision of free and reduced meals for students, such as the United States Department of Agriculture's National School Lunch Program; and

 

     WHEREAS, it is therefore imperative that the Department of Education and State Public Charter School Commission fully utilize every federal program that provides free and reduced meals for students; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Department of Education's school foods services branch, which manages the National School Lunch Program, provides administrative and operational meal support for public schools but not state charter schools; and

 

     WHEREAS, recent experiences have demonstrated that public and state charter schools in rural areas and on the neighbor islands require additional staff to support the National School Lunch Program initiatives, promote effectiveness at the local level with parents and teachers, and improve efficiency by eliminating the delay in communication with pertinent school personnel; and

 

     WHEREAS, as an example, schools such as Kahakai Elementary School, Kealakehe Intermediate School, and Konawaena High School in the County of Hawai‘i were unable to sufficiently utilize federal school meal program benefits due to staffing shortages and considerable physical distance between school campuses; and

 

     WHEREAS, the staffing and logistical challenges faced by these schools in the administration of federal school meal programs have been exacerbated by federal rules that disallow or limit the use of volunteers and other mitigation efforts pursued by schools that lack dedicated staff to manage federal school meal programs; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2022, that the Department of Education and State Public Charter School Commission are urged to prioritize the hiring of dedicated staff for each school campus to manage federal school meal programs, including the National School Lunch Program; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education is requested to seek federal funding, from sources including the United States Department of Agriculture, for purposes of hiring dedicated staff for each public school campus to manage federal meal programs; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education is requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2023; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Superintendent of Education and Executive Director of the State Public Charter School Commission.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Department of Education; State Public Charter School Commission; National School Lunch Program