Bill > S4045

Introduced Session

This bill would require the Secretary of Agriculture (secretary) to establish and operate a Farm to School Local Food Procurement Reimbursement Grant Program. The purpose of the grant program would be to provide sufficient reimbursement financing to eligible school districts in the State, as necessary to allow such districts to implement or undertake expanded or modified local food procurement policies, standards, processes, systems, and activities at their own pace, and to whatever extent that such policies, standards, processes, systems, and activities are capable of being so expanded or modified, as may be necessary to increase the total number or type of local foods being procured for students, the meal periods during which such local foods are served to students, or the total number or type of students being offered such local foods, during either the school year or the summer months, or both. A school district would be eligible for a program grant if all of the schools participating in, or directly benefitting from, the district's expanded or modified local food procurement policies, standards, processes, systems, or activities (i.e., "participating schools") are schools that provide subsidized meals to eligible students. The secretary would be authorized to annually award a program grant to each eligible school district that submits an application therefor, in accordance with the following minimum and maximum annual funding allowances: (1) a small school district, which has less than 5,000 students enrolled at participating schools, would be eligible to receive an annual program grant of not less than $10,000 and not more than $50,000; (2) a medium-sized school district, which has not less than 5,000 and not more than 10,000 students enrolled at participating schools, would be eligible to receive an annual program grant of not less than $20,000 and not more than $125,000; and (3) a large school district, which has 10,000 or more students enrolled at participating schools, would be eligible to receive an annual program grant of not less than $44,000 and not more than $250,000. A school district that wishes to obtain a program grant would be required to submit an application as prescribed by the secretary. Among other things, the grant application would be required to: (1) identify the total number and percentage of schools, in the district, that will be participating in grant-funded local food sourcing and procurement activities; (2) identify the total number of students enrolled at participating schools in the district, and, based on such enrollment numbers, indicate whether the applicant district constitutes a small district, a medium-sized district, or a large district, for the purposes of funding determinations being made pursuant to the bill; (3) indicate the total amount of the grant award being sought by the district, within the appropriate minimum and maximum funding range established by the bill; (4) indicate whether the district, or any participating school therein, is located in a food desert area; (5) include a copy of the district's existing food procurement plan, if relevant, including baseline data specifically indicating the type and amount of local food products currently being sourced and procured for students at participating schools in the district; and (6) describe the ways in which the district proposes to use program grant funding to initiate, expand, or otherwise modify its local food procurement policies, standards, processes, systems, or activities, and expressly identify the expanded types or amounts of local food products that the district proposes to source and procure for students, including the name and address of each farm or other local food producer from which the local foods will be sourced. Grants under the Farm to School Local Food Procurement Reimbursement Grant Program would be awarded on a competitive basis, directly to an applicant school district, within the limits of moneys appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of Agriculture for the program's purposes. In reviewing grant applications and making funding determinations, the secretary would be required to give priority funding preference to those eligible school districts that: (1) have a high number or percentage of subsidized students enrolled at participating schools and will use awarded grant funds, in full or in part, to increase subsidized students' access to local foods; (2) are located, or have participating schools located, in a food desert area; (3) propose to expand or modify their local food procurement policies so as to require the increased sourcing and procurement of local food products produced by small or mid-sized family farms or socially disadvantaged farmers in the State; or (4) were recipients of a program grant award in one or more prior years, the full amount of which has been expended and reimbursed in compliance with all applicable requirements. Of the program grant funds annually awarded to an eligible school district: (1) at least 80 percent of the awarded funds are to be used, by the school district, to reimburse the costs being expended by the district, by participating schools, and by district-operated or third party-contracted food service providers or vendors, in sourcing and procuring the increased types or numbers of local foods that are needed to implement the district's expanded or modified local food procurement policies, standards, processes, systems, and activities, as described in the grant application; and (2) up to 20 percent may be used, by the school district, to reimburse the costs being expended by the district, by participating schools, and by district-operated and third party-contracted food service providers or vendors, in acquiring, maintaining, repairing, replacing, or updating to appropriate equipment, materials, and supplies, or in employing or training appropriate staff, as necessary to facilitate the effective implementation of the district's expanded or modified local food procurement policies, standards, processes, systems, and activities, as described in the grant application. Program grant funds may not be used to reimburse any ineligible costs, or any eligible costs that are already being paid for or reimbursed with other State or federal funds. Program grant funds also may not be awarded in a single, lump-sum payment, but are to be disbursed to the recipient school district on a rolling, term-limited, monthly installment basis, over the course of a single-year commencing on September 1 and ending on July 31 next following the date on which the program grant is awarded, and using a draw-down process that provides for reimbursement checks to be issued to the district within 60 days after the department receives a monthly invoice and accounting statement submitted by the district. Each monthly invoice and accounting statement is to include appropriate receipts, photos, or other documentation verifying the expenditures being accounted for therein, as well as a brief explanation detailing why such expenditures should be deemed to constitute eligible costs for the purposes of program reimbursement. Any program grant funds that are disbursed to a school district may be further allocated, by the district, to participating schools, or to district-operated or third party-contracted food service providers or vendors, in order to reimburse the eligible costs being expended thereby, as documented in the district's most recent invoice and accounting statement. Except as otherwise provided by the bill, any program grant funds that are awarded to a school district, but which remain unclaimed at the end of the annual disbursement period, are to be reclaimed by the secretary and used to finance future grant awards under the program. An eligible school district that receives a program grant in one year may apply for another program grant in any subsequent year. However, the roll-over of awarded program grant funds from one year to the next would be prohibited, except in the case of hardship beyond the district's control. In that instance, the secretary may authorize any remaining grant fund balance to be rolled-over and used by the district, for the same purposes, in the next school year, subject to the same rolling disbursement requirements applicable to the original grant award. Any school district applying for such roll-over funding would be required to submit documentation sufficient to establish that the district's failure to expend the full amount of the grant award, during the first annual disbursement period, was the result of a reasonable, valid, and unexpected hardship outside the district's control. The bill would appropriate $6,500,000 from the General Fund to the Department of Agriculture for the bill's purposes. Of that amount, $5,500,000 would be dedicated for use in funding grant awards pursuant to the Farm to School Local Food Procurement Reimbursement Grant Program and $1,000,000 would be dedicated for use in financing the department's administrative costs.

Committee Categories

Andrew Zwicker (D)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Economic Growth Committee (on 06/27/2023)

Official Document