CAL. EDC. CODE § 49565 :
(a)There is hereby
established within the department the California Fresh Start Pilot Program to
provide fresh fruits and vegetable for public school pupils. This program shall
be administered by the department, in consultation with the Department of Food
and Agriculture and the State Department of Health Services.
(b)The program is
intended to encourage public schools maintaining kindergarten or any of grades
1 to 12, inclusive, to provide fruits and vegetables that have not been deep
fried to pupils in order to supplement other fruits and vegetables that have
not been deep fried and that are available to those pupils, and in order to
promote the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables by schoolage
children.
(c)Fruits and
vegetables that have not been deep fried that are provided pursuant to this
article shall be provided free of charge to a pupil, where appropriate.
(d)Fruits and
vegetables that have not been deep fried that are provided pursuant to this
article shall be provided during the schoolday, but
not during regularly scheduled lunch periods.
(e) In making
procurement decisions pursuant to this article, a school district or a charter
school shall give priority to the purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables from
(a)School districts
and charter schools may apply for funding, appropriated for purposes of this
article in the annual Budget Act or in another statute, for reimbursement of
ten cents ($0.10) per meal, to be paid in quarterly installments by the
department, to supplement, but not to supplant, a school breakfast program
under Section 49550.3 or under the federal School Breakfast Program. These
funds shall be deposited into the nonprofit food service account of the school
district or charter school.
(b)The funds
described in subdivision (a) shall be available to school districts and charter
schools that meet all of the following criteria:
(1)Provide one to
two servings of nutritious fruits or vegetables, or both, at breakfast, and
give priority to serving fresh fruits and vegetables.
(2)Spend at least
90 percent of the funding for the direct purchase of nutritious fruits and
vegetables.
(3)Do not spend any
of the funding for the purchase of juice.
(4)Provide data as
required by the independent evaluator pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section
49565.7.
The funds described
in subdivision (a) of Section 49565.1 may be combined with other funding
sources to ensure that at least one serving per day of nutritious fruits or
vegetables, or both, is provided pursuant to the pilot program.
Sites that already
offer two servings of nutritious fruits or vegetables for breakfast may be
reimbursed at ten cents ($0.10) per meal for providing nutritious fruits or
vegetables for after school snacks.
School districts
and charter schools that do not operate school breakfast programs are
encouraged to apply for funding to establish breakfast programs using funds
appropriated for this purpose in the annual Budget Act.
Specific strategies
for the provision of one to two servings of nutritious fruits or vegetables, or
both, may include, but not be limited to, one or more of the following:
(a)Fruit bars
located at the school cafeteria with a minimum of three choices of fruits or
vegetables, or both.
(b)Grab-and-go
breakfasts with one to two servings of fruits or vegetables, or both, to be
eaten on the school campus.
(c)Universal classroom breakfast that includes one to two servings of
fruits or vegetables, or both.
As a condition of
receipt of funds, schoolsites participating in this
program shall include tasting and sampling of nutritious fruits and vegetables
as part of nutrition education. Strategies for nutrition education that include
tasting and sampling of nutritious fruits or vegetables, or both, may include,
but not be limited to:
(a)Educational
sampling and tasting supported with nutrition education.
(b)An offering of fruits or vegetables in the classroom that is
reinforced with nutrition and agricultural bulletins.
(c)A monthly school
campus farmers' market that allows opportunities for school clubs,
organizations, boosters, sports teams, and other groups to organize a farmers'
market that highlights California produce for the student body to sample and
taste.
(d)A produce
sampling program that supports a school garden's harvest through additional
purchases of local, in-season fruits or vegetables to be used for a sampling
and tasting program for the school campus featuring what is growing in the
school garden.
Of the funds
appropriated for this purpose in Schedule (9) of Item 6110-485 of Section 2.00
of the Budget Act of 2005 (Ch. 38, Stats. 2005), as amended by Chapter 39 of
the Statutes of 2005, four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000) shall be
available for the State Department of Education to provide grants to a county
office of education or a community college selected on a competitive basis, to
be allocated as follows:
(a)Not more than
one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) to develop an online professional
development seminar for schoolsite staff on serving,
including safe handling guidelines, marketing, and promoting nutritious fruits
and vegetables.
(b)Not more than
three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) to contract with an independent
evaluator to conduct a comprehensive evaluation, including a determination of
the need for educational materials for pupils and staff professional development
programs on the safe handling, serving, and marketing of nutritious fruits and
vegetables as part of the California Fresh Start Pilot Program.
The department, in
consultation with the Department of Food and Agriculture, the State Department
of Health Services, and the State Board of Education, shall do both of the
following:
(a)Develop
emergency regulations, as it deems necessary, to implement the program
established pursuant to this article.
(b)Establish
guidelines for the evaluation of the program developed pursuant to this article.