SPARK Act

Schools Preventing Hunger in At-Risk Kids Act or the SPARK Act

This bill expands automatic eligibility for the National School Lunch Program to foster children who have been placed with a relative or family friend with the involvement of the state child welfare agency. To enroll in the program, a family must document the foster child's status to the child's school.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4259 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4259

 To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to provide 
   categorical eligibility for free lunch and breakfast for certain 
           children in kinship care, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 9, 2019

Ms. Wild (for herself, Mrs. Radewagen, Mr. Bacon, Ms. Moore, Mr. Payne, 
Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Thompson of California, Ms. Bass, Ms. Judy Chu of 
California, Mr. Trone, Mrs. Bustos, Mr. Hastings, Mrs. Dingell, Mr. Ted 
 Lieu of California, Ms. Dean, Mr. Lawson of Florida, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. 
Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, Ms. Haaland, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Harder 
 of California, Mr. Serrano, Ms. Barragan, Mr. Langevin, Mr. Ryan, Mr. 
   Pappas, and Ms. Pingree) introduced the following bill; which was 
            referred to the Committee on Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to provide 
   categorical eligibility for free lunch and breakfast for certain 
           children in kinship care, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Schools Preventing Hunger in At-Risk 
Kids Act'' or the ``SPARK Act''.

SEC. 2. SCHOOL MEALS FOR FOSTER CHILDREN IN KINSHIP CARE.

    Section 9 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 
U.S.C. 1758)--
            (1) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) paragraph (5)(E)--
                            (i) in clause (i), by striking ``or'' at 
                        the end;
                            (ii) in clause (ii), by striking the period 
                        at the end and inserting ``; or''; and
                            (iii) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(iii) a child whose placement with a relative or 
                family friend was carried out with the involvement of 
                an agency that administers a State plan under part B or 
                E of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 621 
                et seq.), regardless of whether such agency is 
                responsible for the care and placement of such 
                child.''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (12)(A)(vii)--
                            (i) in subclause (I), by striking ``or'' at 
                        the end;
                            (ii) in subclause (II), by striking the 
                        period and inserting ``; or''; and
                            (iii) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(III) a child whose placement with a 
                        relative or family friend was carried out with 
                        the involvement of an agency that administers a 
                        State plan under part B or E of title IV of the 
                        Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 621 et seq.), 
                        regardless of whether such agency is 
                        responsible for the care and placement of such 
                        child.''; and
            (2) in subsection (d)(2)(F)--
                    (A) in clause (i), by striking ``or'' at the end; 
                and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(iii) documentation has been provided to the 
                appropriate local educational agency showing the status 
                of the child as a child whose placement with a relative 
                or family friend was carried out with the involvement 
                of an agency that administers a State plan under part B 
                or E of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
                621 et seq.), regardless of whether such agency is 
                responsible for the care and placement of such child; 
                or''.
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