Sponsored by:
Senator FRED H. MADDEN, JR.
District 4 (Camden and Gloucester)
SYNOPSIS
Provides anti-stigmatization protections to public school student whose school breakfast or school lunch bill is in arrears and requires school district to communicate about arrearages to parent and not to student.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning school meals and amending P.L.2015, c.15.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 1 of P.L.2015, c.15 (C.18A:33-21) is amended to read as follows:
1. a. In the event that a school district determines that a student's school breakfast or school lunch bill is in arrears, the district shall contact the student's parent or guardian to provide notice of the arrearage and shall provide the parent or guardian with a period of 10 school days to pay the amount due. If the student's parent or guardian has not made full payment by the end of the 10 school days, then the district shall again contact the student's parent or guardian to provide notice that school breakfast or school lunch, as applicable, shall not be served to the student beginning one week from the date of the second notice unless payment is made in full.
A school district shall report at least biannually to the Department of Agriculture the number of students who are denied school breakfast or school lunch pursuant to this section.
b. A school district shall not:
(1) publicly identify or stigmatize a student who cannot pay for a school breakfast or a school lunch or whose school breakfast or school lunch bill is in arrears by, for example, requiring that the student wear a wristband or hand stamp or by prohibiting the student from participating in field day, a class trip, or other extracurricular activities; or
(2) require a student who cannot pay for a school breakfast or a school lunch or whose school breakfast or school lunch bill is in arrears to do chores or other work to pay for the school breakfast or school lunch.
c. A school district shall direct communications about a student's school breakfast or school lunch bill being in arrears to the parent or guardian and not the student. Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit a school district from sending a student home with a letter addressed to a parent or guardian.
(cf: P.L.2018, c.27, s.1)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
Current law provides a process for notifying a parent or guardian when a public school student's school breakfast or school lunch bill is in arrears and allowing the parent or guardian a certain amount of time to pay the amount due. Under that law, a student is not suddenly denied a school meal because the school district determines that the student's school meal bill is in arrears.
This bill provides additional protections for a student whose school meal bill is in arrears. Under the bill, the school district would not be permitted to publicly identify or stigmatize a student who cannot pay for a school breakfast or a school lunch or whose meal bill is in arrears by, for example, requiring the student to wear a wristband or hand stamp or by prohibiting the student from participating in field day, a class trip, or other extracurricular activities. In addition, the district would not be permitted to require the student to do chores or other work to pay for the school breakfast or school lunch. The bill also requires a school district to communicate about a meal bill in arrears to the parent or guardian, not to the student. The bill clarifies, though, that a school district is allowed to send a student home with a letter addressed to a parent or guardian regarding the meal bill matter.