Not later than December 31, 2008 and June 30 of each year thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the Committees on Agriculture and Education and Labor of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a report that assesses the effectiveness of each State in enrolling school-aged children in households receiving program benefits under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) (referred to in this section as "program benefits") for free school meals using direct certification.
The assessment of the Secretary of the performance of each State shall include-
(1) an estimate of the number of school-aged children, by State, who were members of a household receiving program benefits at any time in July, August, or September of the prior year;
(2) an estimate of the number of school-aged children, by State, who were directly certified as eligible for free lunches under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.), based on receipt of program benefits, as of October 1 of the prior year; and
(3) an estimate of the number of school-aged children, by State, who were members of a household receiving program benefits at any time in July, August, or September of the prior year who were not candidates for direct certification because on October 1 of the prior year the children attended a school operating under the special assistance provisions of section 11(a)(1) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1759a(a)(1)) that is not operating in a base year.
The report of the Secretary shall describe best practices from States with the best performance or the most improved performance from the previous year.
(
The Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, referred to in subsec. (a), is
The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, referred to in subsec. (b)(2), is act June 4, 1946, ch. 281,
Section was enacted as part of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, and not as part of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act which comprises this chapter.
Enactment of this section and repeal of
Section effective Oct. 1, 2008, see section 4407 of
"Secretary" as meaning the Secretary of Agriculture, see section 8701 of Title 7, Agriculture.