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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 1773. School breakfast program
(a) Establishment; authorization of appropriations
There is hereby authorized to be appropriated such sums as are
necessary to enable the Secretary to carry out a program to assist
the States and the Department of Defense through grants-in-aid and
other means to initiate, maintain, or expand nonprofit breakfast
programs in all schools which make application for assistance and
agree to carry out a nonprofit breakfast program in accordance with
this chapter. Appropriations and expenditures for this chapter
shall be considered Health and Human Services functions for budget
purposes rather than functions of Agriculture.
(b) Breakfast assistance payments to State educational agencies;
calculation; national average payments for breakfasts, free
breakfasts and reduced price breakfasts; maximum price for
reduced cost breakfasts; minimum daily nutrition requirements
criteria; additional payments for severe need schools; maximum
severe need payments
(1)(A)(i) The Secretary shall make breakfast assistance payments
to each State educational agency each fiscal year, at such times as
the Secretary may determine, from the sums appropriated for such
purpose, in an amount equal to the product obtained by multiplying
-
(I) the number of breakfasts served during such fiscal year to
children in schools in such States which participate in the
school breakfast program under agreements with such State
educational agency; by
(II) the national average breakfast payment for free
breakfasts, for reduced price breakfasts, or for breakfasts
served to children not eligible for free or reduced price meals,
as appropriate, as prescribed in clause (B) of this paragraph.
(ii) The agreements described in clause (i)(I) shall be permanent
agreements that may be amended as necessary. Nothing in the
preceding sentence shall be construed to limit the ability of the
State educational agency to suspend or terminate any such agreement
in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary.
(B) The national average payment for each free breakfast shall be
57 cents (as adjusted pursuant to section 1759a(a) of this title).
The national average payment for each reduced price breakfast shall
be one-half of the national average payment for each free
breakfast, except that in no case shall the difference between the
amount of the national average payment for a free breakfast and the
national average payment for a reduced price breakfast exceed 30
cents. The national average payment for each breakfast served to a
child not eligible for free or reduced price meals shall be 8.25
cents (as adjusted pursuant to section 1759a(a) of this title).
(C) No school which receives breakfast assistance payments under
this section may charge a price of more than 30 cents for a reduced
price breakfast.
(D) No breakfast assistance payment may be made under this
subsection for any breakfast served by a school unless such
breakfast consists of a combination of foods which meet the minimum
nutritional requirements prescribed by the Secretary under
subsection (e) of this section.
(E) Free and reduced price policy statement. - After the initial
submission, a school food authority shall not be required to submit
a free and reduced price policy statement to a State educational
agency under this chapter unless there is a substantive change in
the free and reduced price policy of the school food authority. A
routine change in the policy of a school food authority, such as an
annual adjustment of the income eligibility guidelines for free and
reduced price meals, shall not be sufficient cause for requiring
the school food authority to submit a policy statement.
(2)(A) The Secretary shall make additional payments for
breakfasts served to children qualifying for a free or reduced
price meal at schools that are in severe need.
(B) The maximum payment for each such free breakfast shall be the
higher of -
(i) the national average payment established by the Secretary
for free breakfasts plus 10 cents, or
(ii) 45 cents (as adjusted pursuant to section 1759a(a)(3)(B)
of this title).
(C) The maximum payment for each such reduced price breakfast
shall be thirty cents less than the maximum payment for each free
breakfast as determined under clause (B) of this paragraph.
(3) The Secretary shall increase by 6 cents the annually adjusted
payment for each breakfast served under this chapter and section
1766 of this title. These funds shall be used to assist States, to
the extent feasible, in improving the nutritional quality of the
breakfasts.
(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, whenever stocks
of agricultural commodities are acquired by the Secretary or the
Commodity Credit Corporation and are not likely to be sold by the
Secretary or the Commodity Credit Corporation or otherwise used in
programs of commodity sale or distribution, the Secretary shall
make such commodities available to school food authorities and
eligible institutions serving breakfasts under this chapter in a
quantity equal in value to not less than 3 cents for each breakfast
served under this chapter and section 1766 of this title.
(5) Expenditures of funds from State and local sources for the
maintenance of the breakfast program shall not be diminished as a
result of funds or commodities received under paragraph (3) or (4).
(c) Disbursement of apportioned funds by State; preference for
schools in poor economic areas, for students traveling long
distances daily, and for schools for improvement of nutrition and
dietary practices of children of working mothers and from
low-income families
Funds apportioned and paid to any State for the purpose of this
section shall be disbursed by the State educational agency to
schools selected by the State educational agency to assist such
schools in operating a breakfast program and for the purpose of
subsection (d) of this section. Disbursement to schools shall be
made at such rates per meal or on such other basis as the Secretary
shall prescribe. In selecting schools for participation, the State
educational agency shall, to the extent practicable, give first
consideration to those schools drawing attendance from areas in
which poor economic conditions exist, to those schools in which a
substantial proportion of the children enrolled must travel long
distances daily, and to those schools in which there is a special
need for improving the nutrition and dietary practices of children
of working mothers and children from low-income families. Breakfast
assistance disbursements to schools under this section may be made
in advance or by way of reimbursement in accordance with procedures
prescribed by the Secretary.
(d) Severe need assistance; eligibility standards; receipt of
lesser of operating costs of breakfast program or meal
reimbursement rate
(1) Each State educational agency shall provide additional
assistance to schools in severe need, which shall include only -
(A) those schools in which the service of breakfasts is
required pursuant to State law; and
(B) those schools (having a breakfast program or desiring to
initiate a breakfast program) in which, during the most recent
second preceding school year for which lunches were served, 40
percent or more of the lunches served to students at the school
were served free or at a reduced price, and in which the rate per
meal established by the Secretary is insufficient to cover the
costs of the breakfast program.
The provision of eligibility specified in clause (A) of this
paragraph shall terminate effective July 1, 1983, for schools in
States where the State legislatures meet annually and shall
terminate effective July 1, 1984, for schools in States where the
State legislatures meet biennially.
(2) A school, upon the submission of appropriate documentation
about the need circumstances in that school and the school's
eligibility for additional assistance, shall be entitled to receive
100 percent of the operating costs of the breakfast program,
including the costs of obtaining, preparing, and serving food, or
the meal reimbursement rate specified in paragraph (2) of
subsection (b) of this section, whichever is less.
(e) Nutritional requirements; service free or at reduced price;
compliance assistance
(1)(A) Breakfasts served by schools participating in the school
breakfast program under this section shall consist of a combination
of foods and shall meet the minimum nutritional requirements
prescribed by the Secretary on the basis of tested nutritional
research, except that the minimum nutritional requirements shall be
measured by not less than the weekly average of the nutrient
content of school breakfasts. Such breakfasts shall be served free
or at a reduced price to children in school under the same terms
and conditions as are set forth with respect to the service of
lunches free or at a reduced price in section 1758 of this title.
(B) The Secretary shall provide through State educational
agencies technical assistance and training, including technical
assistance and training in the preparation of foods high in complex
carbohydrates and lower-fat versions of foods commonly used in the
school breakfast program established under this section, to schools
participating in the school breakfast program to assist the schools
in complying with the nutritional requirements prescribed by the
Secretary pursuant to subparagraph (A) and in providing appropriate
meals to children with medically certified special dietary needs.
(2) At the option of a local school food authority, a student in
a school under the authority that participates in the school
breakfast program under this chapter may be allowed to refuse not
more than one item of a breakfast that the student does not intend
to consume. A refusal of an offered food item shall not affect the
full charge to the student for a breakfast meeting the requirements
of this section or the amount of payments made under this chapter
to a school for the breakfast.
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