Amends TCA Title 49.

Present law requires each school board to establish both a school lunch program and a school breakfast program for certain schools, unless a waiver is granted, and only to the extent federal funds are available for free or reduced price meals. This bill rewrites this provision to, instead, require each local school board to establish programs that provide a free school lunch and a free school breakfast to each student enrolled in a school under the board's jurisdiction. Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year and applying to each school year thereafter, this bill requires the state to reimburse each LEA the cost of each free breakfast and free lunch served to students enrolled in the LEA after all private funding, such as donations and gifts, and federal funds available pursuant to the national school lunch program created by the National School Lunch Act, the school breakfast program created by the Child Nutrition Act of 1966, or any other federal program has been applied. NON-VOLUNTARY PROGRAM FOR SCHOOL BOARDS Present law requires the commissioner of education ("commissioner") to recommend, and the state board to adopt, rules that require that each school board establish a method to regularly notify students and parents of the availability of free or reduced price meals and to encourage participation in the breakfast program. This bill removes the language regarding encouraging participation in the program, for the purposes of clarifying that the program under this bill is non-voluntary for school boards. Further, present law requires the commissioner to recommend, and the state board to adopt, rules that establish a uniform reporting system for the collection and compilation of data on the administration of the Tennessee School Nutrition Standards Act, including a report on each individual school, regardless of its participation. This bill removes the language regarding participation in the program, for the purposes of clarifying that the program under this bill is non-voluntary for school boards. Moreover, this bill removes the waiver provision under the present law that allows a local school board to waive the requirements for establishing a school breakfast program. This bill also requires the commissioner to recommend, and the state board to adopt, rules that (i) require LEAs to maximize federal funding available to defray the cost of school breakfast and lunch programs established under this bill by ensuring that all eligible students are enrolled in the programs listed under this bill, and that (ii) require all eligible LEAs to apply to participate in the community eligibility provision under the national school lunch program. ESTABLISHING FEE WAIVER RULES Present law requires LEAs to establish, pursuant to rules promulgated by the state board of education, a process by which to waive all school fees for students who receive free or reduced price school lunches. This bill rewrites this provision to, instead, require LEAs to establish, pursuant to rules promulgated by the state board of education, a process by which to waive all school fees for students who meet the eligibility requirements for free or reduced-price lunch as determined pursuant to federal program requirements under a national school lunch program.