HB993: HB993 Nourish to Flourish Act; enact

Currently Georgia law does not set a minimum amount of time students must have to actually eat during the school lunch period, separate from time spent waiting in line. House Bill 993, called the Nourish to Flourish Act, would add a new section to the Quality Basic Education Act requiring each public school to schedule at least 30 consecutive minutes of 'seated time' for lunch, counted from when most of the class has sat down with their food. Local school boards would have to write a formal policy covering scheduling, cafeteria staffing, and ways to cut down line-waiting time. The State Board of Education would have to write rules requiring schools to report their policies and lunch schedules each year, and could offer grants to schools that need extra money to meet the requirement, if state funds are appropriated for that purpose. The requirement would start in the 2026-2027 school year.

• Requires every Georgia public school to schedule a daily lunch period with at least 30 consecutive minutes of seated eating time, not counting time in line, starting in the 2026-2027 school year.
• Defines 'seated time' as the time a student has to eat, beginning once a majority of the class has sat down with meals.
• Requires local school boards or other school governing bodies to adopt a written policy covering lunch scheduling, cafeteria staffing, and reducing line wait times.
• Requires the State Board of Education to create rules making schools submit annual reports on their lunch policy and schedule to the Department of Education.
• Allows, but does not require, the State Board of Education to give grants to schools that need extra funding beyond existing school lunch funding (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-187) to meet the new requirement.

Public school students and cafeteria staff, local boards of education and other public school governing bodies, the State Board of Education, and the Department of Education, which would all have new scheduling, policy-writing, reporting, or rulemaking duties under the bill.

Students would be guaranteed a set amount of time to actually eat lunch rather than spending most of the period waiting in line, which could mean schedule and staffing changes for cafeterias. Schools facing added costs could seek state grants if the legislature funds the program.

• Section 1 gives the bill its short title, the 'Nourish to Flourish Act.'
• Section 2 adds new Code Section 20-2-323.1, defining 'seated time' as meal-eating time excluding time waiting in line.
• Subsection (b) requires each public school to schedule at least 30 consecutive minutes of seated lunch time starting in the 2026-2027 school year.
• Subsection (c) requires local school governing bodies to adopt written lunch policies addressing scheduling, staffing, and reducing line wait times.
• Subsection (d) requires the State Board of Education to issue rules requiring annual reports from schools on their lunch policies and schedules.
• Subsection (e) authorizes, subject to state appropriations, grants to schools needing funding beyond that provided under O.C.G.A. § 20-2-187 to comply.
• Section 3 repeals 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 nutrition
• education policy