(a) Because a hungry child cannot learn, the Legislature intends, as a state nutrition and health policy, that the federal School Breakfast Program be made available in all schools where it is needed to provide adequate nutrition for children in attendance.

(b) The department, in cooperation with school districts and county superintendents of schools, shall provide information and limited financial assistance to encourage program startup and expansion into all qualified schools, as follows:

(1) Provide information to school districts and county superintendents of schools concerning the benefits and availability of the federal School Breakfast Program.

(2) Each year, provide additional information and financial assistance to schools in the state, in which 20 percent or more of the school enrollment consists of children who have applied and qualify for free and reduced-price meals.

(c) The department shall award grants of up to fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) per schoolsite on a competitive basis to school districts, county superintendents of schools, or entities approved by the department, limited to an amount subject to budget appropriations each fiscal year, for nonrecurring expenses incurred in initiating or expanding a school breakfast program under this section or a federal summer meals program, including the summer food service program pursuant to Article 10.7 (commencing with Section 49547) and the Seamless Summer Option component of the federal National School Lunch Program.

(d) Grants awarded under this section shall be used for nonrecurring costs of initiating or expanding a school breakfast program or a federal summer meals program, including the acquisition of equipment, training of staff in new capacities, outreach efforts to publicize new or expanded school breakfast programs or federal summer meals programs, minor alterations to accommodate new equipment, computer point-of-service systems for food service, and the purchase of vehicles for transporting food to schools. Funds may not be used for salaries and benefits of staff, food, computers, except computer point-of-service systems, or capital outlay.

(e) In making grant awards under this section in any fiscal year, the department shall give a preference to school districts and county superintendents of schools that do all of the following:

(1) Submit to the department a plan to start or expand school breakfast programs or federal summer meals programs in the school district or the county, including a description of the following:

(A) The manner in which the school district or county superintendent of schools will provide technical assistance and funding to schoolsites to expand those programs.

(B) Detailed information on the nonrecurring expenses needed to initiate a program.

(C) Public or private resources that have been assembled to carry out expansion of these programs during that year.

(2) Agree to operate the school breakfast program or the federal summer meals program for a period of not less than three years.

(3) Assure that the expenditure of funds from state and local resources for the maintenance of the school breakfast program or the federal summer meals program shall not be diminished as a result of grant awards received under this section.

(f) A grant awarded under this section may be used to implement a school breakfast program that serves breakfast after the start of the schoolday.

(Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 593, Sec. 5. (AB 3043) Effective January 1, 2019.)