An Act To Further Reduce Student Hunger
Mandate preamble. This measure requires one or more local units of government to expand or modify activities so as to necessitate additional expenditures from local revenues but does not provide funding for at least 90% of those expenditures. Pursuant to the Constitution of Maine, Article IX, Section 21, 2/3 of all of the members elected to each House have determined it necessary to enact this measure.
Sec. 1. 20-A MRSA §6602, sub-§1, ¶C, as enacted by PL 2011, c. 379, §4, is amended to read:
(1) For the summer following the 2011-2012 school year, a school administrative unit with at least one public school in which at least 75% of students qualified for a free or reduced-price lunch in the 2011-2012 school year may participate in the federal summer food service program;
(2) For the summer following the 2012-2013 school year, a school administrative unit with at least one public school in which at least 65% of students qualified for a free or reduced-price lunch in the 2012-2013 school year may participate in the federal summer food service program; and
(3) For the summer following the 2013-2014 school year and each subsequent school year, a school administrative unit with at least one public school in which at least 50% of students qualified for a free or reduced-price lunch in that school year may participate in the federal summer food service program.
A school administrative unit with a public school in which at least 50% of students qualified for a free or reduced-price lunch during the preceding school year shall operate a federal summer food service program in the area served by that public school during the following summer vacation if that public school operates a summer educational or recreational program. The school administrative unit is required to operate the federal summer food service program only on days that the public school operates the summer educational or recreational program. The school administrative unit may collaborate with a service institution to operate the federal summer food service program.
A school administrative unit with a public school in which at least 50% of students qualified for a free or reduced-price lunch during the preceding school year that does not operate a summer educational or recreational program shall collaborate with a service institution to operate a federal summer food service program if there is a service institution that provides food service to children in the summer in the area served by the public school.
Notwithstanding this paragraph, a school administrative unit that is required to operate a federal summer food service program may choose not to operate such a program if it determines by a vote of the governing body of the school administrative unit after notice and a public hearing that operating such a program would be financially or logistically impracticable.
For purposes of this paragraph, "service institution" means a public or private nonprofit school, a municipal or county government, a public or private nonprofit higher education institution or a private nonprofit summer camp.