HB 202  - AS INTRODUCED

 

 

2021 SESSION

21-0379

06/08

 

HOUSE BILL 202

 

AN ACT relative to school lunch payment policies.

 

SPONSORS: Rep. Horrigan, Straf. 6; Rep. Mullen, Hills. 7; Rep. Shaw, Hills. 16; Rep. Myler, Merr. 10; Rep. Luneau, Merr. 10

 

COMMITTEE: Education

 

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ANALYSIS

 

This bill requires school boards that provide free or reduced cost meals to refrain from certain actions that could stigmatize a child who requests such a meal.

 

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

21-0379

06/08

 

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

 

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty One

 

AN ACT relative to school lunch payment policies.

 

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

 

1  New Paragraphs; Free and Reduced Cost Meals; Anti-Stigmatization Practices.  Amend RSA 189:11-a by inserting after paragraph VIII the following new paragraphs:

IX.  Each school board that makes meals available at no cost or at a reduced cost shall:

(a)  Prohibit public identification or stigmatization of a student who cannot pay for a meal or who owes a meal debt.

(b)  Prohibit a child who cannot pay for a meal or who owes a meal debt from doing chores or other work to pay for meals, unless chores or other work are required of all students.

(c)  Require a school to direct communications about a child's meal debt to a parent or guardian and not the student.  Nothing in this section shall prohibit a school from sending a student home with a letter addressed to a parent or guardian, provided that the letter shall not be distributed to the child in a manner that stigmatizes the child.  

X.  Any school that participates in the National School Breakfast Program or the National School Lunch Program shall not provide to any child who qualifies for a free or reduced price breakfast or lunch an alternate meal that is not provided to students generally.

2  Effective Date.  This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.