Free or reduced-price school meals: direct certification.

Existing law requires the State Department of Education to create a computerized data matching system using existing databases from the State Department of Education and the State Department of Health Care Services to directly certify recipients of CalFresh, the CalWORKs program, and other programs authorized for direct certification for enrollment in the federal National School Lunch Program and the federal School Breakfast Program. Existing law requires the State Department of Health Care Services to conduct the data match of local school records and return a list to the State Department of Education, including only the data fields submitted by the State Department of Education and an indicator of program eligibility. This bill would instead require the State Department of Health Care Services or the State Department of Education to conduct the data match of local school records to determine program eligibility. The bill would require each state agency involved in the data match process to amend any applicable existing agreements before the State Department of Education may conduct the data match. The bill would require, before a state agency provides the State Department of Education with data to conduct a data match, the State Department of Education and that state agency to execute a written agreement that outlines the use of the data in the data match process and incorporates privacy and confidentiality procedures consistent with all applicable state and federal law.