STAND. COM. REP. NO. 208
Honolulu, Hawaii
S.D. 1
President of the Senate
Thirty-Second State Legislature
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 154 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose and intent of this measure is to:
(1) Require the Department of Education to develop and implement a School Meal Subsidy Program to provide school lunch subsidies to children whose families do not otherwise qualify for free lunch under the federal Free and Reduced Lunch Program, subject to income eligibility; and
(2) Appropriate funds.
Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, Executive Office on Early Learning, Hawai‘i State Council on Developmental Disabilities, Hawaii State Teachers Association, Hawai‘i Children's Action Network Speaks!, Democratic Party of Hawai‘i Education Caucus, Hawai‘i Hunger Action Network, Hawai‘i Public Health Institute, and two individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from one individual.
Your Committee finds that the National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program for schools. While the National School Lunch Program provides daily low-cost or free, balanced meals to children from households making a certain income, the Department of Education estimates that up to fifteen thousand children each year from gap groups do not qualify for the National School Lunch Program, but still struggle with food insecurity. Nutritious meals are integral to the development, growth, and learning of Hawaii's keiki and in many cases, school meals may be the only way some children have access to food. Therefore, developing a state School Meal Subsidy Program is necessary to provide lunch subsidies for students who are not otherwise eligible for free lunch under the Department of Education Food Services Branch's Free and Reduced Price Lunch Program.
Your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and
(2) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 154, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 154, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education,
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________________________________ MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair |
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