Bill Text: NY S07371 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires schools to adopt a school meal policy regarding unpaid school meal fees and prohibits schools from shaming or treating students differently when students have unpaid school lunch fees.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-10 - REFERRED TO EDUCATION [S07371 Detail]
Download: New_York-2017-S07371-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7371 IN SENATE January 10, 2018 ___________ Introduced by Sen. MARCELLINO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring schools to adopt a school meal policy regarding unpaid school meal fees The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 908 to 2 read as follows: 3 § 908. School meal policy. 1. a. The board of education or the board 4 of trustees of each school district, board of cooperative educational 5 services, charter school, and non-public school in this state that 6 provides a meal to students during the school day shall adopt and imple- 7 ment a policy to ensure that: (i) a student who is enrolled in the 8 National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program or Special Milk 9 Program is not shamed or treated differently than a student who is not 10 enrolled in such programs; and (ii) a student whose parent or guardian 11 has unpaid school meal fees is not shamed or treated differently than a 12 student whose parent or guardian does not have unpaid school meal fees. 13 For the purposes of this section, different treatment or shaming shall 14 include, but not be limited to, publicly naming or labeling a student, 15 denying or delaying a meal to a student, or requiring a student to do 16 chores for a meal. 17 b. Such policy shall include, but not be limited to: (i) methods by 18 which a student's parent or guardian may pay for school meal fees, such 19 as prepayment and automatic payments for school meals, as well as the 20 use of technology to improve timely payments of school meal fees; (ii) 21 actions that the school will take to collect a student's unpaid school 22 meal fees from parents or guardians; (iii) how school personnel will be 23 trained to ensure that the policy is implemented; (iv) the designation 24 of a school administrator or administrators responsible for implementa- 25 tion of the policy; and (v) procedures to address situations where 26 school personnel violate of the policy. 27 c. The policy adopted pursuant to this subdivision shall be adopted 28 with input from school personnel, parents, students and any other inter- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD11947-03-7S. 7371 2 1 ested parties and follow all applicable federal and state laws, regu- 2 lations and guidance regarding school meal programs and unpaid meal 3 fees. Such policy shall be incorporated into any contract with a food 4 service management company that provides school meals to students. 5 d. A school or school district shall only communicate directly with a 6 parent or guardian about payment of school meal fees or collection of 7 unpaid school meal fees. A school or school district may, however, 8 direct actions or communications about such fees to or through a student 9 if a parent or guardian provides written consent. 10 e. If a student has accrued unpaid school meal fees equal to or great- 11 er than the value of five full-priced meals and, before collecting 12 unpaid fees, the school or school district shall: (i) exhaust all 13 options and methods to directly certify the student for free or 14 reduced-price meals; and (ii) in cases where the school or school 15 district cannot directly certify the student, provide the parent or 16 guardian with an application to enroll the student in a school meal 17 program and contact the parent or guardian of the student, in writing, 18 to inform them of the availability of such program. 19 f. This section shall not apply to school districts or schools where 20 all students are eligible for a school meal under the Community Eligi- 21 bility Provision of the federal National School Lunch Act. 22 2. The board of education or the board of trustees of each school 23 district, board of cooperative educational services, charter school, and 24 non-public school in this state that provides a meal to students during 25 the school day but does not participate in the Community Eligibility 26 Provision of the federal National School Lunch Act shall distribute 27 information about school meal programs available to students. The infor- 28 mation to be distributed shall include, but not be limited to: a. a 29 description of each school meal program that is offered by the school; 30 b. program eligibility criteria; c. the cost of a school meal program 31 under each school meal program; d. how payments may be made and how 32 unpaid meal fees will be collected; and e. enrollment forms for school 33 meal programs and a description of the enrollment process, including the 34 name of a person or persons whom a parent or guardian may consult about 35 school meal programs offered by the school or school district. 36 3. The information and policy required to be distributed pursuant to 37 this section shall be provided, in writing, at the beginning of each 38 school year to all parents or guardians of students, distributed in 39 school enrollment packets and published on the school or school 40 district's website. 41 § 2. Section 305 of the education law is amended by adding a new 42 subdivision 41-a to read as follows: 43 41-a. The commissioner shall issue a guidance memorandum to every 44 school district, board of cooperative educational services, nonpublic 45 school and charter school to inform them of best practices regarding 46 service of meals to students without funds to pay the school meal fees, 47 methods of payment that can improve timely payment of school meal fees, 48 and collection of debt for unpaid school meal fees. 49 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
