2022 New Jersey Revised Statutes
Title 18A - Education
Section 18A:33-14a - School breakfast, minimum nutritional standards, eligibility.
18A:33-14a School breakfast, minimum nutritional standards, eligibility.
12. a. (1) School breakfasts made available to students under a school breakfast program or a breakfast after the bell program shall meet minimum nutritional standards, established by the Department of Education.
(2) Free or reduced price breakfasts, as appropriate, shall be offered, under a school breakfast program or a breakfast after the bell program, to all enrolled students who are determined to be federally eligible for free or reduced price meals. As provided by section 1 of P.L.2019, c.445 (C.18A:33-21.1), any student who is eligible for a reduced price breakfast, pursuant to federal income eligibility criteria, shall not be required to pay for such breakfast. Free breakfasts shall also be offered to each enrolled student who is federally ineligible for free or reduced price meals, but who has an annual household income that is not less than 186 percent, and not more than 199 percent, of the federal poverty level, as determined pursuant to section 16 of P.L.2022, c.104 (C.18A:33-21b1).
b. The State shall provide funding to each school that operates a School Breakfast Program or a breakfast after the bell program, as may be necessary to reimburse the costs associated with the school's provision of free breakfasts, pursuant to subsection a. of this section, to students who are federally ineligible for free or reduced price meals.
c. The Department of Agriculture, in consultation with the Department of Education, shall annually prepare and issue, to the Governor and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), to the Legislature, a written report that identifies, for each school and school district in the State:
(1) the methods that are being used by each such school or school district to facilitate the prompt identification and subsidized meal certification of students who are categorically eligible or income-eligible for free or reduced price breakfast under the federal School Breakfast Program;
(2) the number and percentage of income-eligible students from low-income families and from middle-income families, respectively, in each such school and district, who are receiving free or reduced price breakfast under the federal School Breakfast Program and the provisions of this section; and
(3) the methods that are being used, by each such school and district, to provide breakfast to students under the federal School Breakfast Program, including an indication as to whether breakfast is being provided to students through a breakfast after the bell program.
d. The Department of Agriculture, in consultation with the Department of Education, shall adopt rules and regulations pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), to implement the provisions of this section, including, but not limited to, rules and regulations establishing a schedule for, and identifying the manner in which, State-level reimbursements are to be made pursuant to subsection b. of this section.
L.2022, c.104, s.12.
