H-1390

   Amend Senate File 475, as amended, passed, and reprinted by the Senate, as follows:
   1.  Page 13, after line 16 by inserting: 
<DIVISION ___
SCHOOL MEALS —— PROHIBITIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

   Sec. ___.  NEW SECTION.  283A.11  Participation by students —— school prohibitions and responsibilities.
   1.  For purposes of this section, unless the context otherwise requires, “school” includes a school district, a school district attendance center, or an accredited nonpublic school.
   2.  a.  A school shall serve nutritious meals to students without discriminating based on ability to pay for a meal and shall not require a student to throw a meal away after the meal has been served for any of the following reasons:
   (1)  The student is unable to pay for the meal.
   (2)  The student, or the student’s family, owes money for meals previously provided to the student.
   b.  If a student owes money for five or more meals, a school shall do all of the following:
   (1)  Require a principal, assistant principal, or designated meal program staff person to contact the parent or guardian to offer assistance with an application for free or reduced-fee meals pursuant to the federal Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act of 1966, 42 U.S.C. §1751 et seq., and the federal Child Nutrition Act of 1966, 42 U.S.C. §1771 et seq.; and then determine, if appropriate, if other issues within the household have caused the student to have insufficient funds to purchase a school meal; and offer any other assistance that is appropriate.
   (2)  Check the state list of students categorically eligible for free meals to determine if the student is categorically eligible.
   (3)  Make at least two attempts to reach the student’s parent or guardian to discuss filling out an application for free or reduced-fee meals pursuant to the federal Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act of 1966, 42 U.S.C. §1751 et seq., and the federal Child Nutrition Act of 1966, 42 U.S.C. §1771 et seq.
   3.  a.  A school is prohibited from engaging in any of the following acts:
   (1)  Publicly identifying or stigmatizing a student who cannot pay for a meal or who owes a meal debt, including but not limited to requiring such a student to consume the meal at a table set aside for such purpose.
   (2)  Requiring a student who cannot pay for a meal or who owes a meal debt to do chores or other work to pay for meals, unless chores or work is required of all students regardless of a meal debt. However, a student may volunteer to perform chores at the school.
   b.  A school shall direct communications about a student’s meal debt to a parent or guardian and not to the student. Nothing in this paragraph prohibits a school from sending a letter home with a student addressed to a parent or guardian.>
   2.  By renumbering as necessary.

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RUNNING-MARQUARDT of Linn