BILL NUMBER: S4561

SPONSOR: HINCHEY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend chapter 537 of the laws of 1976, relating to paid, free
and reduced price breakfast for eligible pupils in certain school
districts, in relation to reimbursement for certain lunch meals served
during the declared COVID-19 state of emergency

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

The purpose of this bill is to allow school districts to be able to use
the NYS produced food that was purchased for lunch during the school
COVID shutdown to count towards the qualifying purchases threshold to
qualify for the increased reimbursement lunch rate for the Farm to
School program.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. Subdivision a of section 5 of Chapter 537 of the laws of
              

1976, relating to paid, free and reduced-price breakfast for eligible
pupils in certain school districts, as added by section 2 of part B of
chapter 56 of the laws of 2018, is amended.

Section 2: The effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

With the onset of the pandemic and school closure in March, schools
across the state switched to one of two summer meal programs to provide
free meals to students and their families: the Summer Seamless Option
(SSO) or the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). When this happened, the
State Education Department (NYSED) determined that as an extension of
the National School Lunch Program, New York grown food purchased for
meals served through SSO count towards qualifying for the Farm to School
incentive while the same purchases under SFSP do not. This fall, the
USDA extended a waiver allowing school districts to continue to serve
free summer meals through the end of 2020 due to the pandemic. After
this announcement, NYSED reported that at least one half of school
districts in New York chose to deliver meals through SFSP given its
greater ability to meet school meal service needs and protect public
health during the pandemic.  While this is great news for schools,
students and their families, this means that currently, at least one
half of New York schools are ineligible to participate in the State's
nation-leading Farm to School incentive program during the 2020/21
school year, due to this administrative determination.

The pandemic has laid bare the necessity of investing in our food secu-
rity and resilience, local food systems, and community health so that
our children grow up strong, our farms and businesses remain vibrant and
innovative, and our communities and economies thrive. The state's Farm
to School Incentive program has the potential to do just that while
helping our state rebuild. At this time of economic downturn and the
resulting rise in unemployment and food insecurity-we cannot afford to
set the clock back on the hard work we have done to build Farm to School
in New York State. Taking action to ensure program eligibility for all
schools during the 2020/21 school year is an easy and simple way to

protect families, jobs, businesses' health, and farm viability when New
Yorkers need it most.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

This legislation will have limited fiscal implications, however, it
would allow the NYS food purchases made by school districts to count
towards meeting the percentage threshold to qualify for the Farm to
School Program.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effective immediately.