A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO DIRECT THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION to adopt a policy to ensure the uniform administration of unpaid meal charges and to PROVIDE SCHOOL lunches AT NO COST FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN WHO QUALIFY FOR REDUCED‑PRICE MEALS AT SCHOOLS PARTICIPATING IN THE NATIONAL SCHOOL lunch PROGRAM.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑12 is amended by adding a new subdivision to read:
"(47)	Duty to Ensure Uniform Administration of Unpaid Meal Charges. – The State Board of Education shall adopt a policy to ensure the uniform administration of unpaid meal charges in local school administrative units. At a minimum, the policy shall guarantee that students are not prevented from receiving nutritious meals because of an unpaid meal charge."
SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction the sum of three million dollars ($3,000,000) in recurring funds for the 2019‑2020 fiscal year to be used to provide school lunches at no cost to students of all grade levels qualifying for reduced‑price meals in all schools participating in the National School Lunch Program. If appropriated funds are insufficient to provide school lunches at no cost to students qualifying for reduced‑price meals, the Department of Public Instruction shall also use any excess funds appropriated for the National School Breakfast Program for the purposes of this section.
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies beginning with the 2019‑2020 school year.