Bill Text: NJ S2669 | 2014-2015 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes "breakfast after the bell" incentive fund.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-12-18 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Education Committee [S2669 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2014-S2669-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator RAYMOND J. LESNIAK
District 20 (Union)
Senator M. TERESA RUIZ
District 29 (Essex)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes "breakfast after the bell" incentive fund.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning school breakfast programs and supplementing Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Department of Agriculture, in consultation with the Department of Education, shall develop and administer an incentive fund that will provide a 10-cent per breakfast supplement to the existing federal reimbursement to school districts that (1) participate in the federal school breakfast program, and (2) meet the eligibility requirements established pursuant to subsection b. of this section.
b. A public school district with schools that participate in the federal school breakfast program that serve "breakfast after the bell" with 20 to 100 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced price breakfast shall be eligible for this additional reimbursement.
c. The Department of Agriculture, in consultation with the Department of Education, shall provide guidance and support to school districts necessary to effectuate the purposes of this act.
d. The Department of Agriculture, in consultation with the Department of Education, shall prepare and issue an annual report to the Governor and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), to the Legislature on the annual cost of the incentive fund to the State, and the number and percentage of additional students participating in the "breakfast after the bell" program for each school district.
e. The Legislature shall annually appropriate such funds as are necessary to implement this act.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the Department of Agriculture, in consultation with the Department of Education, to develop and administer an incentive fund that will provide a 10-cent per breakfast supplement to the existing federal reimbursement to school districts that participate in the federal school breakfast program. The bill provides that a public school district with schools that participate in the federal school breakfast program that serve "breakfast after the bell" with 20 to 100 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced price breakfast would be eligible for this additional reimbursement.
The purpose of the fund is to provide an incentive for school districts to move to a school breakfast model that will reach more hungry students since low to middle income school districts face more fiscal challenges in covering the cost of an effective breakfast program.
