Signed by Governor Bruce Rauner

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that requires all schools within the state to provide lunch to every student.

Highlights:

• Establishes this act as the Hunger-Free Students’ Bill of Rights Act (Sec. 1).

• Defines “school” as any public or private elementary or secondary school that participates in a United States Department of Agriculture child nutrition program (Sec. 5).

• Requires every school in the state to give a federally reimbursable meal or snack to a student of that school who requests the meal or snack (Sec. 10).

• Authorizes a school to reach out to the parent or guardian of a student who owes money for meals or snacks that is more than the amount charged a student for five lunches, or a lower amount as determined by the student’s school district or private school, to try to collect the owed money and to request that the parent or guardian apply for meal benefits in a federal or state child nutrition program (Sec. 10).

• Authorizes a school district to seek an offset under the State Comptroller Act if the amount owed by a student for meals or snacks equals $500 or more, and the school district has tried to collect the debt from the student’s parent or guardian for at least one year (Sec. 10). 

• Prohibits a school from publicly identifying or stigmatizing any student who is not able to pay for a meal or snack or who owes money for a meal or snack, including but not limited to (Sec. 15):

• Having the student wear a wristband;

• Having the student’s hand stamped;

• Requiring the student to throw away a meal or snack after being served;

• Requiring the student to sit in a separate location; or

• Posting the name of the student publicly.

Full Bill Text