2017 Massachusetts General Laws
PART I ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT
TITLE XII EDUCATION
Chapter 69 POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
Section 1C Minimum nutritional standards for school food services; regulations; breakfast programs; guidelines for reimbursement of costs; Hepatitis B immunization
Section 1C. The board shall establish minimum nutritional standards for all school food services in all public elementary, secondary, and vocational-technical schools. The board shall require all public schools to make lunches available to children. Standards and regulations of the board promulgated pursuant to this paragraph shall be adopted in the following manner. A copy of such regulations and standards shall be filed by the board with the clerk of the house of representatives and of the senate who shall refer such regulations and standards to the joint committee on education, arts and humanities of the general court for review. Within thirty days after such filing, said committee shall hold a public hearing on the regulations and standards, shall issue a report, and file a copy thereof with the board of education. The board shall adopt final regulations and standards making such revisions in the interim regulations and standards as it deems appropriate in view of such report and shall forthwith file a copy of the regulations and standards with chairpersons of said committee of the general court and not earlier than thirty days after the date of such filing, the board shall file the final regulations and standards with the state secretary and the said regulations shall thereupon take effect.
The board shall further require all public schools which draw their attendance from areas with a high number of needy children, as defined by the board, to make school breakfast programs available to children, and to operate such programs in accordance with the federal laws and regulations pertaining to school breakfast programs. Such breakfast programs shall be made available to children who do not qualify for free or reduced price breakfast under federal income eligibility guidelines at a price to each such child which is not less than the cost to the school of making such breakfast available to such child. The commonwealth shall reimburse each city or town required by this paragraph to make school breakfast programs available to children who qualify for free or reduced price meals pursuant to federal income eligibility guidelines, at a uniform rate determined pursuant to the following paragraph, which rate shall provide for the payment by the commonwealth of the reasonable costs of making breakfast available to such children, reduced by the amount of revenue received by the city or town from federal reimbursements or any other source with respect to the provision of such breakfasts. The department shall make said reimbursements in accordance with the same schedule as federal reimbursements are made to the city or town with respect to such breakfast programs.
The secretary for administration and finance shall convene a working committee made up of his own designee, a designee of the Massachusetts school committee association and a designee of the Massachusetts school business managers association, a designee of the commissioner of education and a designee of the local government advisory committee to establish guidelines for the purposes of reimbursing cities and towns for the reasonable costs associated with the implementation of school breakfast programs pursuant to the preceding paragraph. Such guidelines shall be filed by the working committee with the clerk of the house of representatives and senate only upon approval of said committee. Reimbursements of costs made pursuant to such guidelines shall constitute complete satisfaction of the obligation of the commonwealth to assume such costs pursuant to any general or special law.
The board may require that all public schools provide for immunization against Hepatitis B for any school employee who works with developmentally disabled students and requests such immunization; provided, however, that such employee is not covered for immunization against Hepatitis B by his own health insurance. The commissioner shall establish guidelines for the purpose of reimbursing cities and towns for such immunization.
