Bill Text: FL S1312 | 2011 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: School Nutrition Programs

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2011-05-04 - Ordered enrolled -SJ 851 [S1312 Detail]

Download: Florida-2011-S1312-Comm_Sub.html

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       Florida Senate - 2011                             CS for SB 1312
       
       
       
       By the Committee on Agriculture; and Senators Siplin and Gaetz
       
       
       
       
       575-03166-11                                          20111312c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to school nutrition programs;
    3         providing a short title; transferring and reassigning
    4         functions and responsibilities, including records,
    5         personnel, property, and unexpended balances of
    6         appropriations and other resources for the
    7         administration of the school food and nutrition
    8         programs from the Department of Education to the
    9         Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services;
   10         creating s. 570.98, F.S.; requiring the Department of
   11         Agriculture and Consumer Services to conduct,
   12         supervise, and administer all school food and
   13         nutrition programs; requiring the department to
   14         cooperate fully with the United States Government;
   15         authorizing the department to act as agent of, or
   16         contract with, the Federal Government, other state
   17         agencies, or any county or municipal government for
   18         the administration of the school food and nutrition
   19         programs; transferring, renumbering, and amending s.
   20         1006.06, F.S., relating to school food service
   21         programs; conforming provisions to changes made by the
   22         act; deleting obsolete provisions; transferring,
   23         renumbering, and amending ss. 1006.0606 and 1010.77,
   24         F.S., relating to the children’s summer nutrition
   25         program and the Food and Nutrition Services Trust
   26         Fund, respectively; conforming provisions to changes
   27         made by the act; deleting obsolete provisions;
   28         amending s. 1003.453, F.S.; requiring each school
   29         district to send an updated copy of its wellness
   30         policy and physical education policy to the Department
   31         of Education and the Department of Agriculture and
   32         Consumer Services; deleting obsolete provisions;
   33         requiring certain information to be accessible from
   34         the website of the Department of Agriculture and
   35         Consumer Services; creating the Healthy Schools for
   36         Healthy Lives Council within the Department of
   37         Agriculture and Consumer Services; requiring the
   38         Commissioner of Agriculture to appoint members of the
   39         council; providing duties of the council; providing
   40         requirements for the meetings, powers, duties,
   41         procedures, and recordkeeping of the council;
   42         providing an effective date.
   43  
   44  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   45  
   46         Section 1. This act may be cited as the “Healthy Schools
   47  for Healthy Lives Act.”
   48         Section 2. All powers, duties, functions, records,
   49  personnel, property, pending issues and existing contracts,
   50  administrative authority, administrative rules, and unexpended
   51  balances of appropriations, allocations, and other funds for the
   52  administration of the school food and nutrition programs are
   53  transferred by a type two transfer, as defined in s. 20.06(2),
   54  Florida Statutes, from the Department of Education to the
   55  Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
   56         Section 3. Section 570.98, Florida Statutes, is created to
   57  read:
   58         570.98 School food and nutrition programs.—
   59         (1) The department shall conduct, supervise, and administer
   60  all school food and nutrition programs that will be carried out
   61  using federal or state funds, or funds from any other source.
   62         (2) The department shall cooperate fully with the United
   63  States Government and its agencies and instrumentalities so that
   64  the department may receive the benefit of all federal financial
   65  allotments and assistance possible to carry out the purposes of
   66  this chapter.
   67         (3) The department may act as agent of, or contract with,
   68  the Federal Government, another state agency, or any county or
   69  municipal government for the administration of the school food
   70  and nutrition programs, including the distribution of funds
   71  provided by the Federal Government to support the school food
   72  and nutrition programs.
   73         Section 4. Section 1006.06, Florida Statutes, is
   74  transferred, renumbered as section 570.981, Florida Statutes,
   75  and amended to read:
   76         570.981 1006.06 School food service programs.—
   77         (1) In recognition of the demonstrated relationship between
   78  good nutrition and the capacity of students to develop and
   79  learn, it is the policy of the state to provide standards for
   80  school food service and to require district school boards to
   81  establish and maintain an appropriate private school food
   82  service program consistent with the nutritional needs of
   83  students.
   84         (2) The department State Board of Education shall adopt
   85  rules covering the administration and operation of the school
   86  food service programs.
   87         (3) Each district school board shall consider the
   88  recommendations of the district school superintendent and adopt
   89  policies to provide for an appropriate food and nutrition
   90  program for students consistent with federal law and department
   91  State Board of Education rule.
   92         (4) The state shall provide the state National School Lunch
   93  Act matching requirements. The funds provided shall be
   94  distributed in such a manner as to comply with the requirements
   95  of the National School Lunch Act.
   96         (5)(a) Each district school board shall implement school
   97  breakfast programs that make breakfast meals available to all
   98  students in each elementary school. By the beginning of the
   99  2010-2011 school year, Universal school breakfast programs shall
  100  be offered in schools in which 80 percent or more of the
  101  students are eligible for free or reduced-price meals. Each
  102  school shall, to the maximum extent practicable, make breakfast
  103  meals available to students at an alternative site location,
  104  which may include, but need not be limited to, alternative
  105  breakfast options as described in publications of the Food and
  106  Nutrition Service of the United States Department of Agriculture
  107  for the federal School Breakfast Program.
  108         (b) Beginning with the 2009-2010 school year, Each school
  109  district must annually set prices for breakfast meals at rates
  110  that, combined with federal reimbursements and state
  111  allocations, are sufficient to defray costs of school breakfast
  112  programs without requiring allocations from the district’s
  113  operating funds, except if the district school board approves
  114  lower rates.
  115         (c) Each district school board is encouraged to provide
  116  universal-free school breakfast meals to all students in each
  117  elementary, middle, and high school. By the beginning of the
  118  2010-2011 school year, Each district school board shall approve
  119  or disapprove a policy, after receiving public testimony
  120  concerning the proposed policy at two or more regular meetings,
  121  which makes universal-free school breakfast meals available to
  122  all students in each elementary, middle, and high school in
  123  which 80 percent or more of the students are eligible for free
  124  or reduced-price meals.
  125         (d) Beginning with the 2009-2010 school year, Each
  126  elementary, middle, and high school shall make a breakfast meal
  127  available if a student arrives at school on the school bus less
  128  than 15 minutes before the first bell rings and shall allow the
  129  student at least 15 minutes to eat the breakfast.
  130         (e) Each school district shall annually provide to all
  131  students in each elementary, middle, and high school information
  132  prepared by the district’s food service administration regarding
  133  its school breakfast programs. The information shall be
  134  communicated through school announcements and written notice
  135  sent to all parents.
  136         (f) A district school board may operate a breakfast program
  137  providing for food preparation at the school site or in central
  138  locations with distribution to designated satellite schools or
  139  any combination thereof.
  140         (g) The commissioner shall make every reasonable effort to
  141  ensure that any school designated as a “severe need school”
  142  receives the highest rate of reimbursement to which it is
  143  entitled under 42 U.S.C. s. 1773 for each breakfast meal served.
  144         (h) The department shall annually allocate among the school
  145  districts funds provided from the school breakfast supplement in
  146  the General Appropriations Act based on each district’s total
  147  number of free and reduced-price breakfast meals served.
  148         (6) The Legislature, recognizing that school children need
  149  nutritious food not only for healthy physical and intellectual
  150  development but also to combat diseases related to poor
  151  nutrition and obesity, establishes the Florida Farm Fresh
  152  Schools Program within the department of Education as the lead
  153  agency for the program. The program shall comply with the
  154  regulations of the National School Lunch Program and require:
  155         (a) The department of Education to work with the Department
  156  of Agriculture and Consumer Services to develop policies
  157  pertaining to school food services which encourage:
  158         1. School districts to buy fresh and high-quality foods
  159  grown in this state when feasible.
  160         2. Farmers in this state to sell their products to school
  161  districts and schools.
  162         3. School districts and schools to demonstrate a preference
  163  for competitively priced organic food products.
  164         (b) School districts and schools to make reasonable efforts
  165  to select foods based on a preference for those that have
  166  maximum nutritional content.
  167         (c) The department of Education, in collaboration with the
  168  Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, to provide
  169  outreach, guidance, and training to school districts, schools,
  170  school food service directors, parent and teacher organizations,
  171  and students about the benefits of fresh food products from
  172  farms in this state.
  173         Section 5. Section 1006.0606, Florida Statutes, is
  174  transferred, renumbered as section 570.982, Florida Statutes,
  175  and amended to read:
  176         570.982 1006.0606 Children’s summer nutrition program.—
  177         (1) This section may be cited as the “Ms. Willie Ann Glenn
  178  Act.”
  179         (2) Each district school board shall develop a plan by May
  180  1, 2006, to sponsor a summer nutrition program beginning the
  181  summer of 2006 to operate sites in the school district as
  182  follows:
  183         (a) Within 5 miles of at least one elementary school at
  184  which 50 percent or more of the students are eligible for free
  185  or reduced-price school meals and for the duration of 35
  186  consecutive days; and
  187         (b) Except as operated pursuant to paragraph (a), within 10
  188  miles of each elementary school at which 50 percent or more of
  189  the students are eligible for free or reduced-price school
  190  meals.
  191         (3)(a) A district school board boards may be exempt from
  192  sponsoring a summer nutrition program pursuant to this section.
  193  A district school board seeking such exemption must include the
  194  issue on an agenda at a regular or special district school board
  195  meeting that is publicly noticed, provide residents an
  196  opportunity to participate in the discussion, and vote on
  197  whether to be exempt from this section. The district school
  198  board shall notify the commissioner of Education within 10 days
  199  after it decides to become exempt from this section.
  200         (b) Each year the district school board shall reconsider
  201  its decision to be exempt from the provisions of this section
  202  and shall vote on whether to continue the exemption from
  203  sponsoring a summer nutrition program. The district school board
  204  shall notify the commissioner of Education within 10 days after
  205  each subsequent year’s decision to continue the exemption.
  206         (c) If a district school board elects to be exempt from
  207  sponsoring a summer nutrition program under this section, the
  208  district school board may encourage not-for-profit entities to
  209  sponsor the program. If a not-for-profit entity chooses to
  210  sponsor the summer nutrition program but fails to perform with
  211  regard to the program, the district school board, the school
  212  district, and the department of Education are not required to
  213  continue the program and shall be held harmless from any
  214  liability arising from the discontinuation of the summer
  215  nutrition program.
  216         (4) The superintendent of schools may collaborate with
  217  municipal and county governmental agencies and private, not-for
  218  profit leaders in implementing the plan. Although schools have
  219  proven to be the optimal site for a summer nutrition program,
  220  any not-for-profit entity may serve as a site or sponsor. By
  221  April 15 of each year, each school district with a summer
  222  nutrition program shall report to the department the district’s
  223  summer nutrition program sites in compliance with this section.
  224         (5) The department shall provide to each district school
  225  board by February 15 of each year a list of local organizations
  226  that have filed letters of intent to participate in the summer
  227  nutrition program in order that a district school board is able
  228  to determine how many sites are needed to serve the children and
  229  where to place each site.
  230         Section 6. Section 1010.77, Florida Statutes, is
  231  transferred, renumbered as section 570.983, Florida Statutes,
  232  and amended to read:
  233         570.983 1010.77 Food and Nutrition Services Trust Fund.
  234  Chapter 99-34, Laws of Florida, re-created the Food and
  235  Nutrition Services Trust Fund to record revenue and
  236  disbursements of Federal Food and Nutrition funds received by
  237  the department of Education as authorized in s. 570.981 s.
  238  1006.06.
  239         Section 7. Section 1003.453, Florida Statutes, is amended
  240  to read:
  241         1003.453 School wellness and physical education policies;
  242  nutrition guidelines.—
  243         (1) By September 1, 2006, Each school district shall submit
  244  to the Department of Education a copy of its school wellness
  245  policy as required by the Child Nutrition and WIC
  246  Reauthorization Act of 2004 and a copy of its physical education
  247  policy required under s. 1003.455. Each school district shall
  248  annually review its school wellness policy and physical
  249  education policy and provide a procedure for public input and
  250  revisions. In addition, each school district shall send an
  251  updated copy of its wellness policy and physical education
  252  policy to the department and to the Department of Agriculture
  253  and Consumer Services when a change or revision is made.
  254         (2) By December 1, 2006, The department shall post links to
  255  each school district’s school wellness policy and physical
  256  education policy on its website so that the policies can be
  257  accessed and reviewed by the public. Each school district shall
  258  provide the most current versions of its school wellness policy
  259  and physical education policy on the district’s website.
  260         (3) By December 1, 2006, The department must provide on its
  261  website links to resources that include information regarding:
  262         (a) Classroom instruction on the benefits of exercise and
  263  healthful eating.
  264         (b) Classroom instruction on the health hazards of using
  265  tobacco and being exposed to tobacco smoke.
  266         (c) The eight components of a coordinated school health
  267  program, including health education, physical education, health
  268  services, and nutrition services.
  269         (d) The core measures for school health and wellness, such
  270  as the School Health Index.
  271         (e) Access for each student to the nutritional content of
  272  foods and beverages and to healthful food choices in accordance
  273  with the dietary guidelines of the United States Department of
  274  Agriculture. This information shall also be accessible from the
  275  website of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
  276         (f) Multiple examples of school wellness policies for
  277  school districts.
  278         (g) Examples of wellness classes that provide nutrition
  279  education for teachers and school support staff, including
  280  encouragement to provide classes that are taught by a licensed
  281  nutrition professional from the school nutrition department.
  282         (4) School districts are encouraged to provide basic
  283  training in first aid, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation,
  284  for all students, beginning in grade 6 and every 2 years
  285  thereafter. Private and public partnerships for providing
  286  training or necessary funding are encouraged.
  287         Section 8. (1) There is created within the Department of
  288  Agriculture and Consumer Services the Healthy Schools for
  289  Healthy Lives Council, which shall consist of 11 members
  290  appointed by the Commissioner of Agriculture. The council shall
  291  advise the department on matters relating to nutritional
  292  standards and the prevention of childhood obesity, nutrition
  293  education, anaphylaxis, and other needs to further the
  294  development of the various school nutrition programs.
  295         (2) The meetings, powers, duties, procedures, and
  296  recordkeeping of the Healthy Schools for Healthy Lives Council
  297  shall be governed by s. 570.0705, Florida Statutes, relating to
  298  advisory committees established within the department.
  299         Section 9. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.