HB 993: Nourish to Flourish Act; enact

Currently Georgia law does not set a minimum amount of time students must have to actually eat lunch once seated. House Bill 993, called the Nourish to Flourish Act, would add a new section to the Quality Basic Education Act requiring every public school to schedule a daily lunch period with at least 30 consecutive minutes of 'seated time,' defined as time to eat once a majority of the class has sat down with their meals, not counting time spent waiting in line. Starting in the 2026-2027 school year, local school boards or other school governing bodies would have to adopt written policies covering lunch scheduling, staffing of lunch personnel, and ways to cut down line-waiting time. Schools would report their policies and lunch schedules annually to the Department of Education. The State Board of Education would write rules to enforce this and could offer grants to schools that need extra funding beyond what they already receive to comply.

• Requires public schools to schedule a daily lunch period with at least 30 consecutive minutes of seated eating time starting in the 2026-2027 school year.
• Defines 'seated time' as time to eat after a majority of the class is seated with meals, excluding time spent waiting in line.
• Requires local school boards or governing bodies to adopt written policies on lunch scheduling, staffing, and reducing line wait times.
• Requires local school systems to submit an annual report to the Department of Education describing their lunch policy and schedule.
• Directs the State Board of Education to write rules and regulations to implement the new requirement.
• Allows the State Board of Education to give grants to schools that need extra money, beyond existing school lunch funding, to meet the new rule.

Public school students and the teachers and cafeteria staff who manage lunch periods, local school boards and other public school governing bodies that must write new policies, the Department of Education, which collects annual reports, and the State Board of Education, which writes rules and may award grants.

Students at schools with short or rushed lunch periods would be guaranteed at least 30 minutes to actually eat once seated, which could mean changes to bell schedules, cafeteria staffing, and lunch line procedures. Schools that need more money to make these changes could seek state grants.

• Section 1 gives the bill its short title, the 'Nourish to Flourish Act.'
• Section 2 adds new Code Section 20-2-323.1 to Georgia's Quality Basic Education Act (O.C.G.A. Title 20, Chapter 2).
• Subsection (a) defines 'seated time' as eating time after a majority of the class is seated, not counting time waiting in line for food.
• Subsection (b) requires each public school, beginning in the 2026-2027 school year, to schedule at least 30 consecutive minutes of seated lunch time daily.
• Subsection (c) requires local school boards to adopt written policies on lunch scheduling, cafeteria staffing, and reducing line wait times.
• Subsection (d) requires the State Board of Education to write rules requiring annual reports from schools on their lunch policies and schedules.
• Subsection (e) authorizes, subject to available state funding, grants from the State Board of Education to schools needing extra money to comply.
• Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2026-01-27House Second Readers (House)
2. 2026-01-16House First Readers (House)
3. 2026-01-15House Hopper (House)

• Imani Barnes (D, HD-086)Primary sponsor
• Mekyah McQueen (D, HD-061)
• Karla Drenner (D, HD-085)
• Rhonda Taylor (D, HD-092)
• Karen Lupton (D, HD-083)
• Long Tran (D, HD-080)

• school lunch
• public schools
• student wellness
• education policy