[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 86 (Wednesday, June 10, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6457-S6458]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CASEY (for himself, Mr. Bennet, and Mr. Specter):
  S. 1226. A bill to amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 
Act to improve paperless enrollment and efficiency for the national 
school lunch and school breakfast programs, and for other purposes; to 
the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a bill with 
Senator Bennet of Colorado, called the Paperless Enrollment for School 
Meals Act. Senator Bennet and I wrote this legislation because of our 
mutual interest in increasing the efficiency of the school lunch 
program both in terms of getting meals to kids who need them and 
lowering program costs to school districts. Congressman Fattah and 
Congresswoman Schwartz are leading a companion bill on the House side.
  Our bill creates a national program that is modeled after a pilot 
project that has been used in Philadelphia for the past 18 years. The 
Philadelphia program provides free lunch to all kids in schools that 
have over 75 percent of the students eligible for free lunches. The 
Philadelphia program also eliminates burdensome paper applications and 
replaces them with a periodic population survey that allows the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture to determine the reimbursement rate to the 
School District of Philadelphia for the meals they serve.
  Modernization of the school lunch program is one of my top priorities 
when the Senate reauthorizes the Child Nutrition Act later this fall. 
The current system of requiring families to fill out paper applications 
at the beginning of each school year, having the school district 
collect and certify those applications, and then having USDA use the 
applications combined with the amount of meals served to determine a 
reimbursement rate is inefficient and outdated. Not only are paper 
applications inefficient, they are inaccurate. It is much more accurate 
to compile socio-economic data and survey populations to determine 
eligibility. We have anecdotal evidence of this fact in Philadelphia, 
where we have dramatically increased participation in school lunch 
through the pilot project that eliminates yearly paper applications, 
thereby eliminating stigma for enrollment, language barriers, and other 
factors that prevent eligible families from completing paper forms.
  There is another way that our bill removes the stigma associated with 
free lunches. By providing free lunches for all students in schools 
that have a very high percentage of eligible children, no one is 
embarrassed to get their free lunch in the lunch line. Every student 
gets the same meal, so no knows who is getting free lunches or reduced 
lunches. This is a very simple policy change that can get more kids 
eating school lunches- kids who might otherwise go hungry that day 
because they don't have food at home.
  Senator Bennet and I have been working on this issue for months both 
separately and now collaboratively with our new legislation. And we 
know that this is just a starting point. We have introduced this 
legislation to start a dialogue with Chairman Harkin and the other 
members of the Committee on Agriculture Nutrition and Forestry along 
with our colleagues at USDA. I think that there is a lot of energy 
around the ideas of paperless applications and universal meals included 
in our bill. I encourage all Senators to support this legislation and 
the principles of the national program Senator Bennet and I have 
outlined and save our schools money while increasing access to quality 
school meals for the kids who need them the most.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous ocnsent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 1226

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

[[Page S6458]]

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Paperless Enrollment for 
     School Meals Act of 2009''.

     SEC. 2. DATA-BASED ELIGIBILITY FOR SCHOOL MEALS PROGRAMS.

       (a) Eligibility.--Section 11(a)(1) of the Richard B. 
     Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1759a(a)(1)) is 
     amended by adding at the end the following:
       ``(F) Data-based eligibility.--
       ``(i) In general.--A school or local educational agency may 
     elect to receive special assistance payments under clause 
     (ii) in lieu of special assistance payments otherwise made 
     available under this paragraph based on applications for free 
     and reduced price lunches if the school or local educational 
     agency--

       ``(I) elects to serve all children in the school or local 
     educational agency free lunches and breakfasts under the 
     school lunch program and school breakfast program established 
     under section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 
     1773), during a period of 5 successive school years; and
       ``(II) pays, from sources other than Federal funds, the 
     costs of serving the lunches or breakfasts that are in excess 
     of the value of assistance received under this Act and the 
     Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.).

       ``(ii) Alternative data sources.--Subject to criteria 
     established by the Secretary not later than December 31, 
     2010, special assistance payments under clause (i) may be 
     based on an estimate of the number of children eligible for 
     free and reduced price lunches under section 9(b)(1)(A) 
     derived from recent data other than applications, including--

       ``(I) a socioeconomic survey of a representative sample of 
     households of students, which may exclude students who have 
     been directly certified under paragraphs (4) and (5) of 
     section 9(b);
       ``(II) data from the American Community Survey of the 
     Bureau of the Census;
       ``(III) data on receipt of income-tested public benefits by 
     students or the households of students or income data 
     collected by public benefit programs, including--

       ``(aa) the supplemental nutrition assistance program 
     established under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 
     U.S.C. 2011 et seq.);
       ``(bb) the medical assistance program under the State 
     medicaid program under title XIX of the Social Security Act 
     (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.);
       ``(cc) the supplemental security income program established 
     under title XVI of that Act (42 U.S.C. 1381 et seq.);
       ``(dd) the program of block grants to States for temporary 
     assistance for needy families established under part A of 
     title IV of that Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.); or

       ``(IV) other data, including State or local survey data and 
     State or local tax records.

       ``(iii) Payments.--

       ``(I) Free meals.--For each month of the period during 
     which a school or local educational agency described in 
     clause (i) serves free lunches or breakfasts to all enrolled 
     children, special assistance payments at the rate for free 
     meals shall be made for a percentage of all reimbursable 
     meals served that is equal to the percentage of students 
     estimated to be eligible for free meals.
       ``(II) Reduced price meals.--For each month of the period 
     during which the school or local educational agency serves 
     free lunches or breakfasts to all enrolled children, special 
     assistance payments at the rate for reduced price meals shall 
     be made for a percentage of all reimbursable meals served 
     that is equal to the percentage of students estimated to be 
     eligible for reduced price meals.
       ``(III) Other meals.--For each month of the period during 
     which the school or local educational agency serves free 
     lunches or breakfasts to all enrolled children, food 
     assistance payments at the rate provided under section 4 
     shall be made for the remainder of the reimbursable meals 
     served.

       ``(iv) Renewals.--

       ``(I) In general.--A school or local educational agency 
     described in clause (i) may reapply to the Secretary at the 
     end of the period described in clause (i), and at the end of 
     each period thereafter for which the school or local 
     educational agency receives special assistance payments under 
     this subparagraph, for the purpose of continuing to receive 
     the reimbursements and assistance for a subsequent 5-school-
     year period.
       ``(II) Approval.--The Secretary shall approve an 
     application under this clause if available socioeconomic data 
     demonstrate that the income level of the population of the 
     school or local educational agency has remained consistent 
     with or below the income level of the population of the 
     school or local educational agency in the last year in which 
     reimbursement rates were determined under clause (ii).
       ``(III) Data.--Not later than December 31, 2010, the 
     Secretary shall establish criteria regarding the 
     socioeconomic data that may be used when applying for a 
     renewal of the special assistance payments for a subsequent 
     5-school-year period.

       ``(G) High-poverty areas.--
       ``(i) In general.--A school or local educational agency may 
     elect to receive special assistance payments under clause 
     (ii) in lieu of special assistance payments otherwise made 
     available under this paragraph based on applications for free 
     and reduced price lunches if the school or local educational 
     agency--

       ``(I) during a period of 2 successive school years, elects 
     to serve all children in the school or local educational 
     agency free lunches and breakfasts under the school lunch 
     program under this Act and the school breakfast program 
     established under section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 
     1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773);
       ``(II) pays, from sources other than Federal funds, the 
     costs of serving the lunches or breakfasts that are in excess 
     of the value of assistance received under this Act and the 
     Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.); and
       ``(III)(aa) for a local educational agency, for the prior 
     school year, directly certified under paragraphs (4) and (5) 
     of section 9(b) at least 50 percent of the enrolled students;
       ``(bb) for a school, for the prior school year, directly 
     certified under paragraphs (4) and (5) of section 9(b) at 
     least 60 percent of the enrolled students; or
       ``(cc) for a local educational agency or school that 
     received payments under this subparagraph for the prior 
     school year, directly certifies under paragraphs (4) and (5) 
     of section 9(b) at least 40 or 50 percent, respectively, of 
     the enrolled students.

       ``(ii) Payments.--

       ``(I) In general.--For each month of the school year, 
     special assistance payments at the rate for free meals shall 
     be made under this subparagraph for a percentage of all 
     reimbursable meals served in an amount equal to the product 
     obtained by multiplying--

       ``(aa) 1.5; by
       ``(bb) the percentage of students directly certified under 
     paragraphs (4) and (5) of section 9(b), up to a maximum of 
     100 percent.

       ``(II) Other meals.--The percentage of meals served that is 
     not described in subclause (I) shall be reimbursed at the 
     rate provided under section 4.

       ``(iii) Election of option.--

       ``(I) In general.--Any school or local educational agency 
     eligible for the option under clause (i) may elect to receive 
     special assistance payments under clause (ii) for the next 
     school year if the school or local educational agency 
     provides to the State agency evidence of the percentage of 
     students directly certified not later than June 30 of the 
     current school year.
       ``(II) State agency notification.--Not later than May 1 of 
     each school year, each State agency shall notify--

       ``(aa) any local educational agency that appears, based on 
     reported verification summary data, to have directly 
     certified at least 50 percent of the enrolled students for 
     the current school year, that the local educational agency 
     may be eligible to elect to receive special assistance 
     payments under clause (ii) for the next 2 school years and 
     explain the procedures for the local educational agency to 
     make such an election; and
       ``(bb) any local educational agency that appears, based on 
     reported verification summary data, to have directly 
     certified at least 40 percent of the enrolled students for 
     the current school year, that the local educational agency 
     may become eligible to elect to receive special assistance 
     payments under clause (ii) for a future school year if the 
     local educational agency directly certifies at least 50 
     percent of the enrolled students.

       ``(III) Local educational agency notification.--Not later 
     than May 1 of each school year, each local educational agency 
     shall notify--

       ``(aa) any school that directly certified at least 60 
     percent of the enrolled students for the current school year, 
     that the school is eligible to elect to receive special 
     assistance payments under clause (ii) for the next school 
     year and explain the procedures for the school to make such 
     an election; and
       ``(bb) any school that directly certified at least 50 
     percent of the enrolled students for the current school year, 
     that the school may become eligible to elect to receive 
     special assistance payments under clause (ii) for a future 
     school year if the school directly certifies at least 60 
     percent of the enrolled students.

       ``(IV) Procedures.--Not later than December 31, 2010, the 
     Secretary shall establish procedures for State agencies, 
     local educational agencies, and schools to meet the 
     requirements of this clause and to exercise the option 
     provided under clause (i).''.

       (b) Conforming Amendments.--Section 11(a)(1)(B) of the 
     Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 
     1759a(a)(1)(B)) is amended by striking ``or (E)'' and 
     inserting ``(E), (F), or (G)''.
                                 ______