2007 California Education Code Article 11.5. The California Fresh Start Pilot Program .. 49565-49565.8

CA Codes (edc:49565-49565.8)

49565.  (a) There is hereby established within the department the
California Fresh Start Pilot Program to provide fresh fruits and
vegetable for public school pupils. This program shall be
administered by the department, in consultation with the Department
of Food and Agriculture and the State Department of Health Services.

   (b) The program is intended to encourage public schools
maintaining kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to
provide fruits and vegetables that have not been deep fried to pupils
in order to supplement other fruits and vegetables that have not
been deep fried and that are available to those pupils, and in order
to promote the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables by
schoolage children.
   (c) Fruits and vegetables that have not been deep fried that are
provided pursuant to this article shall be provided free of charge to
a pupil, where appropriate.
   (d) Fruits and vegetables that have not been deep fried that are
provided pursuant to this article shall be provided during the
schoolday, but not during regularly scheduled lunch periods.
   (e) In making procurement decisions pursuant to this article, a
school district or a charter school shall give priority to the
purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables from California producers,
when commercially available.



49565.1.  (a) School districts and charter schools may apply for
funding, appropriated for purposes of this article in the annual
Budget Act or in another statute, for reimbursement of ten cents
(.10) per meal, to be paid in quarterly installments by the
department, to supplement, but not to supplant, a school breakfast
program under Section 49550.3 or under the federal School Breakfast
Program. These funds shall be deposited into the nonprofit food
service account of the school district or charter school.
   (b) The funds described in subdivision (a) shall be available to
school districts and charter schools that meet all of the following
criteria:
   (1) Provide one to two servings of nutritious fruits or
vegetables, or both, at breakfast, and give priority to serving fresh
fruits and vegetables.
   (2) Spend at least 90 percent of the funding for the direct
purchase of nutritious fruits and vegetables.
   (3) Do not spend any of the funding for the purchase of juice.
   (4) Provide data as required by the independent evaluator pursuant
to subdivision (b) of Section 49565.7.



49565.2.  The funds described in subdivision (a) of Section 49565.1
may be combined with other funding sources to ensure that at least
one serving per day of nutritious fruits or vegetables, or both, is
provided pursuant to the pilot program.



49565.3.  Sites that already offer two servings of nutritious fruits
or vegetables for breakfast may be reimbursed at ten cents (.10)
per meal for providing nutritious fruits or vegetables for after
school snacks.


49565.4.  School districts and charter schools that do not operate
school breakfast programs are encouraged to apply for funding to
establish breakfast programs using funds appropriated for this
purpose in the annual Budget Act.


49565.5.  Specific strategies for the provision of one to two
servings of nutritious fruits or vegetables, or both, may include,
but not be limited to, one or more of the following:
   (a) Fruit bars located at the school cafeteria with a minimum of
three choices of fruits or vegetables, or both.
   (b) Grab-and-go breakfasts with one to two servings of fruits or
vegetables, or both, to be eaten on the school campus.
   (c) Universal classroom breakfast that includes one to two
servings of fruits or vegetables, or both.



49565.6.  As a condition of receipt of funds, schoolsites
participating in this program shall include tasting and sampling of
nutritious fruits and vegetables as part of nutrition education.
Strategies for nutrition education that include tasting and sampling
of nutritious fruits or vegetables, or both, may include, but not be
limited to:
   (a) Educational sampling and tasting supported with nutrition
education.
   (b) An offering of fruits or vegetables in the classroom that is
reinforced with nutrition and agricultural bulletins.
   (c) A monthly school campus farmers' market that allows
opportunities for school clubs, organizations, boosters, sports
teams, and other groups to organize a farmers' market that highlights
California produce for the student body to sample and taste.
   (d) A produce sampling program that supports a school garden's
harvest through additional purchases of local, in-season fruits or
vegetables to be used for a sampling and tasting program for the
school campus featuring what is growing in the school garden.




49565.7.  Of the funds appropriated for this purpose in Schedule (9)
of Item 6110-485 of Section 2.00 of the Budget Act of 2005 (Ch. 38,
Stats. 2005), as amended by Chapter 39 of the Statutes of 2005, four
hundred thousand dollars (0,000) shall be available for the State
Department of Education to provide grants to a county office of
education or a community college selected on a competitive basis, to
be allocated as follows:
   (a) Not more than one hundred thousand dollars (0,000) to
develop an online professional development seminar for schoolsite
staff on serving, including safe handling guidelines, marketing, and
promoting nutritious fruits and vegetables.
   (b) Not more than three hundred thousand dollars (0,000) to
contract with an independent evaluator to conduct a comprehensive
evaluation, including a determination of the need for educational
materials for pupils and staff professional development programs on
the safe handling, serving, and marketing of nutritious fruits and
vegetables as part of the California Fresh Start Pilot Program.



49565.8.  The department, in consultation with the Department of
Food and Agriculture, the State Department of Health Services, and
the State Board of Education, shall do both of the following:
   (a) Develop emergency regulations, as it deems necessary, to
implement the program established pursuant to this article.
   (b) Establish guidelines for the evaluation of the program
developed pursuant to this article.