Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Helping Schools Feed Kids Act of 2023”.
Helping Schools Feed Kids Act of 2023
A BILL
To amend the Keep Kids Fed Act of 2022 to extend additional reimbursement rates for certain child nutrition programs, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Extension of reimbursement rates
Breakfasts and lunches— Section 2(a)(3) of the Keep Kids Fed Act of 2022 (42 U.S.C. 1753 note) is amended—
by striking “only”; and
by striking the period at the end and inserting “and the school year beginning July 2023.”
in paragraph (1), in the heading, by striking “for 2022-2023 school year”; and
in paragraph (2)—
by striking “only”; and
by striking the period at the end and inserting “and the school year beginning July 2023.”
Sec. 3 Research and implementation of report recommendations
In general— The Secretary of Agriculture (in this section referred to as the “Secretary”) shall, in accordance with subsection (b), research or implement the recommendations contained in the Child Nutrition Reporting Burden Analysis Study (commissioned by the Food and Nutrition Service of the Department of Agriculture pursuant to House Report 114–531).
Activities— The Secretary shall—
implement, on the publicly available website of the Food and Nutrition Service, a user-friendly, single location for all guidance and policy materials provided to States and school food authorities by the Food and Nutrition Service of the Department of Agriculture;
create and submit to Congress a plan to restructure or simplify the school meal eligibility process, including—
research on—
the impact of using a unified school meal application form; and
the use of census tract data on poverty levels for verification of eligibility under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) and section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773); and
recommendations for legislative changes needed to implement such plan;
create and submit to Congress a plan that includes recommendations for legislative changes that would allow school food authorities that serve fewer than 100 students and residential child care institutions to receive food from the USDA Foods in Schools program (or cash in lieu thereof) without participating in the school lunch program under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.); and
consolidate duplicative information requests across management evaluations and financial management reviews, while ensuring the purposes of both such reviews are met.