Expanding Access to School Meals Act of 2019

Expanding Access to School Meals Act of 2019

This bill revises program requirements under the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program of the Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Specifically, the bill

• eliminates the reduced price school breakfast and lunch programs to include prohibiting USDA from providing reimbursements for such programs,
• expands the income guidelines for purposes of determining eligibility for free school lunches and breakfasts to make families living at 200% of the poverty-level eligible (currently, families living at 130% or below are eligible),
• allows states to use Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) participation data to directly certify students for free school lunches and breakfasts, and
• increases the multiplier from 1.6% to 1.8% for purposes of determining reimbursement under the Community Eligibility Provision that permits schools in high poverty areas to serve all meals free of charge.