Free Breakfast Program Proposed For All California Students

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - All California school students could get a free breakfast starting with the 2019-20 school year.

Assembly Bill 3043 wants to expand the current free or reduced-price meal program to provide a universal breakfast to each student.

School districts, county offices of education, private schools, charter schools, and residential child care institutions participating in the federal School Breakfast Programs would need to submit documentation to the State Department of Education in order to get approved for the universal breakfast program.

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The universal breakfasts would need to provide the same nutritional quality of meals and drinks as those required by the federal School Breakfast Program and be made using a mobile food facility.

Currently, schools provide free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch to students who qualify for need. The meals are paid for with federal funds and state programs. The new universal breakfast proposal would be paid for through reimbursements with federal School Breakfast Program, along with money collected by districts through the sale of other food.

AB 3043 passed the Assembly unanimously in April and the Senate Education Committee in early June. It goes next to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Read the full bill HERE.