School food authorities: federal equipment assistance grants: matching state grants.

Existing law requires a school district or county superintendent of schools maintaining kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to provide a needy pupil, as defined, one nutritionally adequate free or reduced-price meal during each schoolday, and authorizes the school district or county superintendent of schools to use funds available from any federal program, including the federal National School Lunch Program, or state program to comply with that requirement, as provided. Existing federal regulations define "school food authority" as the governing body that is responsible for the administration of one or more schools and that has the legal authority or approval to operate the federal National School Lunch Program at that school or schools. This bill would require, upon appropriation by the Legislature, and contingent upon allocations provided by the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act, the State Department of Education to provide a state matching grant of up to $100,000 to a school food authority participating in the federal National School Lunch Program that applies for and is awarded a federal Equipment Assistance Grant for School Food Authorities from the department in its administration of the National School Lunch Program, as prescribed. The bill would authorize a school food authority to use the federal and state grants for up to 5 individual schoolsites or to combine the federal and state grants for one purpose. The bill would require that the state matching grant be competitively awarded and align with the federal equipment assistance grant requirements, as specified.