HB 60: Healthy Start Act; enact

Georgia law currently lets the State Board of Education fund a school lunch program and encourages, but does not require, school breakfast programs. This bill rewrites O.C.G.A. § 20-2-187 to require the State Board to fund enough money each year so that students who qualify for reduced-price meals under federal and state rules get their meals at no cost, for both lunch and breakfast. The bill also requires any school where at least 40 percent of students are automatically identified as low-income to run a breakfast program and to join the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which lets high-poverty schools serve free meals to all students without individual applications. Local school systems must group schools together where practical to qualify more schools for CEP. The bill sets pay and staffing rules for school food and nutrition workers, repeals the old breakfast program code section, and encourages schools to buy Georgia-grown food.

• Requires the State Board of Education to fund school lunches and breakfasts at no cost to students who qualify for reduced-price meals under federal and state guidelines.
• Requires any school with at least 40 percent of students automatically identified as low-income to establish a breakfast program and join the USDA's Community Eligibility Provision (CEP).
• Requires the state to reimburse local school systems for breakfast meals at the federal rate, and to keep paying that rate even if federal breakfast funding stops.
• Directs local school systems to group schools together to maximize the number eligible for the Community Eligibility Provision.
• Sets state board rules for nutrition standards, eligibility determination, compliance plans, and encourages use of Georgia-grown produce, dairy, and poultry in school meals.
• Repeals the existing Code Section 20-2-66 on school breakfast programs and folds breakfast rules into a rewritten Code Section 20-2-187.

Public school students statewide, especially those who qualify for reduced-price meals or attend high-poverty schools; local school systems and their food and nutrition staff, who face new program and reporting requirements; and the State Board of Education, which must set funding levels and new rules.

Students who currently pay a reduced price for lunch or breakfast would get those meals free, and many high-poverty schools would be required to start or expand breakfast programs and join a federal program that serves free meals to entire student bodies without separate applications, changing daily meal costs for families and administrative work for schools.

• Section 1 gives the bill the short title "Healthy Start."
• Section 2 repeals and reserves Code Section 20-2-66, the existing school breakfast program provision.
• Section 3 rewrites Code Section 20-2-187 to require the State Board of Education to fund meals at no cost for students eligible for reduced-price meals under federal and state guidelines.
• New subsection (b) requires schools with an identified student percentage of at least 40 percent to establish breakfast programs, reimbursed by the state at the federal rate per meal.
• New subsection (d) requires local school systems to adopt the USDA's Community Eligibility Provision or another provision that maximizes federal funding, and to group schools to increase CEP eligibility.
• New subsection (e) directs the State Board to set minimum nutrition standards, income eligibility rules, a discreet eligibility process, and support for Georgia-grown food purchases.
• Subsection (g) sets staffing and pay formulas for school food and nutrition personnel, including a base payment of at least $161.00 per month and up to $100.00 extra per month for managers.
• Section 4 repeals conflicting laws.

1. 2025-01-17House Second Readers (Cámara de Representantes)
2. 2025-01-16House First Readers (Cámara de Representantes)
3. 2025-01-15House Hopper (Cámara de Representantes)

• Imani Barnes (D, HD-086)Patrocinador principal
• Carolyn Hugley (D, HD-141)
• Mary Oliver (D, HD-084)
• Scott Holcomb (D, HD-101)
• Kimberly Alexander (D, HD-066)
• Rhonda Burnough (D, HD-077)

• school meals
• school breakfast programs
• child nutrition
• education funding
• Community Eligibility Provision