Sec. 104. Nutritional and other program requirements

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Section 9 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1758 ) is amended— by striking the section heading and designation and all that follows through the end of paragraph

(1)in subsection

(a)and inserting the following: The Secretary shall provide— technical assistance and training to schools participating in the school lunch program to assist the schools in complying with the nutritional requirements prescribed by the Secretary pursuant to subsection

(f)and in providing appropriate meals to children with medically certified special dietary needs, including food allergies or other special dietary needs of individual children, including religious dietary restrictions; and additional technical assistance to schools that are having difficulty maintaining compliance with the requirements. ; in subsection (a)— in paragraph (2), by adding at the end the following: In determining varieties of fluid milk that shall be available with school meals programs under this Act and section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 ( 42 U.S.C. 1773 ) and outside of the school meal programs, the Secretary, not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of the Improving Child Nutrition and Education Act of 2016 , shall carry out the following: Consider the critical nutrient needs of children who may be at risk for inadequate intake of the recommended daily servings of milk and dairy products under the most recent Dietary Guidelines described in subparagraph (A)(i) and conform the applicable regulations to such guidelines. Analyze milk consumption data and trends for school-aged children, and to the extent practicable, increase actual milk consumption in schools in a manner consistent with the number of servings recommended under such Dietary Guidelines, and ensure that schools may offer any type of milk with fat levels that are in compliance with such Dietary Guidelines. In determining milk varieties eligible for schools to offer with school meal programs under this Act and section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 ( 42 U.S.C. 1773 ) and outside of the school meal programs, the Secretary shall consider the most commonly available types, sizes, containers, and varieties of milk in local, regional, and national commercial markets from which local educational agencies procure milk, to promote competition and reduce milk waste. ; by striking

(4)and all that follows through Provision of information

(C)and inserting the following: Procurement and processing of food service products and commodities .—The Secretary The Secretary ; in paragraph

(4)(as so designated)— by redesignating clauses

(i)through

(iii)as subparagraphs

(A)through (C), respectively, and indenting appropriately; and by redesignating subclauses

(I)and

(II)as clauses

(i)and (ii), respectively, and indenting appropriately; and by adding at the end the following: To ensure that children have access to potable water during meal service, the Secretary may award funds to State agencies to assist such agencies in providing bottled water for a period of not more than 90 days (except as otherwise provided under subparagraph (C)) when— a major disaster or emergency has been declared by the President under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act ( 42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq. ); and the Secretary determines that there is a significant risk to the health of school children posed by the public water system (as defined under section 1401(4) of the Safe Drinking Water Act ( 42 U.S.C. 300f )). To receive funds under this paragraph, a State agency shall assure the Secretary that the State will utilize donated water supplies and State funding to supplement the funds that the State receives under this paragraph to provide bottled water as necessary for students. If the risk described in subparagraph (A)(ii) persists in a State after the first 90-day period for which funds under this paragraph are provided to such State, funds may be provided under this paragraph to such State for an additional 90-day period. Not more than $475,000 may be provided under this paragraph for a fiscal year. ; in subsection (b)— in paragraph (2)(B)— in clause (i), by striking , and shall contain only the family size income levels for reduced price meal eligibility with the explanation that households with incomes less than or equal to these values would be eligible for free or reduced price lunches ; in clause (ii), by inserting or reduced price after free ; in clause (iii)(I)— in item (aa), by striking and at the end; in item (bb), by striking the period at the end and inserting ; and ; and by adding at the end the following: individuals may report alleged fraud to the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Agriculture. ; and by adding at the end the following: The Secretary shall ensure that the Internet website of the Department of Agriculture prominently displays a link to the Internet website of the Office of the Inspector General of the Department and the phone number of the Office of the Inspector General through which an individual may report any alleged fraud. Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of the Improving Child Nutrition and Education Act of 2016 , the Secretary shall— review a sample of application forms, including paper and digital forms, used to apply for participation in the school lunch program authorized under this Act and the school breakfast program established by section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 ( 42 U.S.C. 1773 ); provide to States guidance relating to best practices, including a standard application form local educational agencies or schools may use; provide to States guidance relating to how to improve the application to ensure families understand and can enroll in the school lunch program and the school breakfast program; and provide to States such information as is necessary to ensure that States understand school food authorities may not— require or mandate families apply for either program; request that a family apply for the program after the parent or guardian has informed the school that the family does not want to participate in the program or receive additional information about the program in that school year; or in the case of a family that has not informed the school about their choice, request more than twice in that school year that such family apply for the program if such family has not submitted an application, except that providing information about the application (including how and when the application will be sent to parents and how to fill out the application) shall not count as a request to apply. ; in paragraph (3)— by striking subparagraph

(D)and inserting the following: Beginning with the second school year that begins after the date of the enactment of the Improving Child Nutrition and Education Act of 2016 , each school year, each local educational agency shall verify the eligibility of the children in a portion of the household applications approved for the school year by the local educational agency, as of November 1 of the school year, as determined by the Secretary in accordance with this subsection. The portion for a local educational agency for a school year shall equal the lesser of— 10,000; or 10 percent of approved household applications. Not later than July 1 of each year, the Secretary shall calculate the sample size under this subparagraph for each local educational agency based on data from the 2 most recent school years available. Applications shall be selected for verification by the local educational agency based on indications that information relevant to eligibility is inconsistent with the information provided on the application, including at a minimum the following: The household has submitted information in writing to the local educational agency that is inconsistent with the information on the application. The information provided on the application is consistent with a pattern of error or fraud detected by the local educational agency, the State agency, or the Secretary. For not more than 1/4 of the sample, students who are directly certified or the application provides a case number (in lieu of income information) showing participation in— the supplemental nutrition assistance program established under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 ( 7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq. ); or a State program funded under the program of block grants to States for temporary assistance for needy families established under part A of title IV of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 601 et seq. ) that the Secretary determines complies with standards established by the Secretary that ensure that the eligibility requirements under the State program are comparable to the requirements for participation in accordance with this Act and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 ( 42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq. ). For not more than 1/4 of the sample, the income information provided on the application is close to the income limit for free or reduced price meals, as determined by the local educational agency each year. Such other criteria as is determined by the State. If the number of applications that match the criteria described in subclause

(III)is insufficient to meet the number of applications determined under subclause (II), the local educational agency shall select additional applications at random. In addition to conducting verification of a sample of applications as described in clause (i), a local educational agency may verify any household application at any point in the school year if the household application meets the criteria described in item (aa), (bb), or

(cc)of clause (i)(III) or such other criteria as is determined by the Secretary. In conducting verification under this subparagraph, a State agency or local educational agency shall not select applications in a manner that violates section 12(l)(4)(M). ; in subparagraph (F)— in clause (i), in the matter preceding subclause (I), by striking may and inserting shall ; and by striking clauses

(iv)and

(v)and inserting the following: If eligibility for a household application is confirmed using direct verification, each child in the household shall be considered directly certified. ; in subparagraph (G)— in clause (iii), by striking 1 attempt and inserting 2 attempts ; and by adding at the end the following: In this clause: The term approved application includes each student on a paper or electronic application approved by the local educational agency for free or reduced price lunches for the school year. The term response rate means the percentage of the approved household applications of the local educational agency for which verification information was obtained after attempted verification under this section. The term nonresponse rate means the percentage of the approved household applications of the local educational agency for which verification information was not obtained after attempted verification under this section. The term confirmation rate means the percentage of approved household applications and directly certified students selected by the local educational agency for verification under this subparagraph that had the level of benefits confirmed as a result of information obtained during the verification process. The sample under subparagraph (D)(i)(II) may be reduced by not more than the lesser of 2,500 applications or 2.5 percentage points for each of the criteria described in subclause

(III)that are met by the local educational agency. Reductions under item

(aa)may result in a sample of not less than 2.5 percent of approved applications. The criteria referred to in subclause (II)(aa) are as follows: For the preceding school year the response rate was more than 85 percent. The nonresponse rate was at least 15 percent below the nonresponse rate for the second preceding school year. The confirmation rate is 100 percent or has increased by at least 5 percent over the two most recent school years for which data is available. The local educational agency receives a determination from the Secretary that compliance with subparagraph (D)(i)(II) would render the local educational agency unable to administer the program. The Secretary shall develop a system by which to measure cost and administrative burden associated with compliance with subparagraph (D)(i)(II) and shall consider requests from local educational agencies based on that system. ; in subparagraph (H)(i)— in subclause (I), by striking November and inserting December ; and in subclause (II), by striking December and inserting January ; in subparagraph (K)(i), in the matter preceding subclause (I), by striking data mining and inserting analyses of data ; by amending subparagraph (K)(ii) to read as follows: Not later than two years after the date of the enactment of the Improving Child Nutrition and Education Act of 2016 , the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives and Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a report describing— the results of the feasibility study conducted under this subsection; how a computer system— used to reduce verification and certification errors can be adapted to further reduce errors; and using technology described in clause

(i)could be implemented; and a plan to adapt or implement such system. ; by adding at the end the following: The Secretary shall help local educational agencies engage in alternative and enhanced methods of certification and verification to increase the effectiveness of the process, reduce certification errors, and produce more meaningful management information to facilitate local educational agency, State, and Federal oversight with respect to program integrity in the school meal programs. The Secretary shall encourage local educational agencies to adopt proven best practices with regard to verification. To the extent necessary to refine alternative verification methods or assess the feasibility, impact, or efficacy of the methods prior to recommending the methods, the Secretary shall select States and local educational agencies that have requested to participate in the development of best practices to implement methods subject to clause (iii). The certification and verification methods shall— meet such terms and conditions as the Secretary considers appropriate; and except as otherwise provided in this subparagraph, be conducted in accordance with this subsection. In selecting methods, including methods for implementation under clause (i)(III), the Secretary shall— consider the degree to which the method would improve certification accuracy and program integrity within the school meal programs; consider whether there is evidence that the method could be replicated easily by other local educational agencies or political subdivisions; consider whether the method would increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the verification process; consider whether the local educational agency or State agency has a demonstrated capacity to undertake the method and to produce the data necessary to support the evaluation; and ensure the methods implemented under clause (i)(III) are implemented across a range of geographic areas and States, including rural and urban areas, and, when considered as a group, allow for an assessment of a range of strategies regarding verification sample selection, obtaining eligibility documentation, and the entity conducting verification, including strategies that— use analyses of data, particularly in large local educational agencies to develop algorithms to select error-prone applications for verification; use third-party data sources to confirm eligibility prior to conducting household verification under subparagraph (G); rely on alternative methods, including message testing, of communicating with households to assess which methods most effectively result in household responses; rely on agencies or organizations other than the local educational agency to conduct verification, including at a minimum the State agency; and could reduce the administrative burden of conducting verification for a consortia of local educational agencies, including shared online applications and shared verification procedures. Notwithstanding the limitation in subparagraph (D)(v)(II)(bb), a local educational agency that uses the strategies described in clause (iii)(V) may qualify for a reduction of additional 0.25 percentage points under such subparagraph, creating a floor of 2.25 percent for the verification sample size. ; in paragraph (4)— in subparagraph (B), by inserting , including a child enrolled in a nonpublic school, after under which a child ; by striking subparagraph (E); by redesignating subparagraphs

(F)and

(G)as subparagraphs

(E)and (F), respectively; and in subparagraph

(E)(as so redesignated)— in clause (i), by striking means— and all that follows through each school year thereafter in subclause

(III)and inserting means, for the school year ; in clause (ii)— in subclause (II), by striking and at the end; in subclause (III), by striking the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; and by adding at the end the following: include in the report required under section 4301 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 ( 42 U.S.C. 1758a ), a description of technical assistance provided to and progress of States identified under subclause

(I)toward implementing the measures and meeting the goals established by the State as required under clause (iii)(II); and provide guidance to schools on providing meals and collecting payment for any student who is no longer able to receive meals because the student did not provide a response to the verification request for the student’s school meal application. ; and in clause (iii)(II)(bb), by inserting within 3 school years after those measures ; in paragraph (15)— in subparagraph (B)(i), by striking section 9(b)(1)(A) of this Act and inserting paragraph (1)(A) ; and in subparagraphs (C)(ii) and (D), by striking paragraph (4)(G) both places it appears and inserting paragraph (4)(F) ; in subsection (f)— in paragraph (1)— in subparagraph (A), by striking and at the end; in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at the end and inserting ; and ; and by adding at the end the following: meet minimum nutritional requirements prescribed by the Secretary on the basis of tested nutritional research specifically conducted to understand the impact for children, except that the minimum nutritional requirements— may not prohibit the substitution of foods to accommodate the medical, including allergies, or other special dietary needs of individual students, including religious dietary restrictions; and shall, as possible in accommodating the medical or other special dietary needs of such students, be based on the weekly average of the nutrient content of school lunches. ; in paragraph (3)(A)(ii), by striking paragraph

(3)and inserting paragraph

(2); by striking paragraph

(4)and inserting the following: The Secretary shall, at least every 3 years— review the regulations promulgated in accordance with this Act for the school meal programs described in paragraph

(1)(in this paragraph referred to as the school meal programs ); with consultation from a parent, a pediatrician, a dietician who conducts child nutrition research, and stakeholders in schools (including school leaders, school boards, local educational agency administrators, and school food nutrition directors), certify that the regulations are— appropriate for the age of children participating in the school meal programs, including for the health of children; in compliance with the preponderance of the latest high-quality research based on school-aged children conducted to examine the health and safety of children participating in the school meal programs; not increasing the cost to implement the requirements of the school meal programs (which costs shall be considered the total costs to implement the regulations and not limited to the cost of any changes to the regulations); and not discouraging students from participating in the school meal programs; if necessary to meet the requirements of clause (ii), revise the regulations to meet such requirements; not later than 30 days prior to publication under clause (v)(II) of the revised regulations— submit the revised regulations for comment to the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate; review any comments provided under subclause (I), and further revise the regulations, if necessary to ensure the revised regulations are in compliance with clause (i); and provide a public notice and comment period of not less than 60 days, review the public comments, and further revise the regulations, if necessary to ensure the revised regulations are in compliance with clause (i); and publish in the Federal Register, and submit to the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate— a notice that no changes to the regulations are required and the certification described in clause (ii); or the regulations, as revised under clause (iv), and the certification described in clause (ii). The first review required under subparagraph

(A)after the date of enactment of the Improving Child Nutrition and Education Act of 2016 shall— be concluded not later than December 31, 2016; include a review of the sodium and whole grain requirements under the regulations for the school meal programs; and ensure that such requirements— maintain the sodium target requirements established for the school lunch program and school breakfast program under sections 210.10(f) and 220.8(f) of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, respectively (as such regulations are in effect on the day before the date of the enactment of the Improving Child Nutrition and Education Act of 2016 ) until such requirements are revised in accordance with subclause (II); and in a case in which the sodium target requirements are revised as a result of the review described in this subparagraph, ensure that such a revision— is based on health requirements for children; is supported by a majority of research focused on school-aged children that directly establishes, through well-controlled randomized trials or well-designed, long-term observational studies, that sodium reductions are both safe and produce beneficial health outcomes for such children; is able to support food safety and be produced in a manner that does not significantly increase the cost of food; and does not take effect until 3 years after the revision has been published in the Federal Register. Subject to clause (ii), the Secretary shall issue guidance, or promulgate new rules as necessary, to ensure each State agency provides guidance to school food authorities with respect to the allowance of up to 4 family meal days, as designated by a school, which shall be exempt from the meal pattern rules specified under the regulations for the school meal programs, during which the school may— invite parents to participate in special meals, such as a Thanksgiving meal or a parents’ day meal; and provide additional nutrition education, such as recipe building or healthy cooking classes to parents and families on making healthy meal options at home, which may be provided by an entity or individual other than a school food service director or food service personnel. In issuing guidance or promulgating rules under clause (i), the Secretary shall not establish any requirements or limitations for family meal days, except to ensure that schools have the authority to hold up to 4 family meal days per school year. The Secretary shall provide guidance, when there is difficulty in procuring food to comply with the regulations, to allow a school food authority to substitute food items across food groups and subgroups, including in-season, locally-produced fruits and vegetables, notwithstanding the food-based meal patterns and menu planning requirements of this subsection, provided that the school food authority continues to meet applicable daily and weekly nutrient and dietary requirements under this subsection. ; and by adding at the end the following: The accommodation requirements described in paragraph (1)(C)(i) shall apply to all programs under this Act and all programs under the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 ( 42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq. ), except for section 17 of such Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1786 ). . by striking subsections

(g)and (k); by redesignating subsections (h), (i), (j), and

(l)as subsections (g), (h), (i), and (j), respectively; and in subsection

(g)(as so redesignated), by striking 2011 through 2015 each place it appears in paragraphs

(3)and

(4)and inserting 2017 through 2021 .

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