He added that his legislation authorizes significant steps to expand access to free school meals, which are vital to proving nutritious foods for children experiencing hunger.
The School Hunger Elimination Act will:
- Directly certify all school-age children receiving Medicaid
- Expand mandatory direct certification
- Increase the community eligibility reimbursement multiplier from 1.6 to 1.8
- Allow community eligibility school groupings across districts
- Expand the timeline for retroactive reimbursements
Jim Weill, president, Food Research & Action Center (FRAC), commented, “The School Hunger Elimination Act will increase the number of high-need schools that are able to offer free breakfast and lunch to all students.” He added that the bill will ensure that “children from low-income households are easily connected to free school meals.”
Providing financial relief to children’s caregivers
Sen. Casey also introduced the Caregivers Access and Responsible Expansion for Kids Act or the CARE for Kids Act. The legislation provides financial relief to the millions of caregivers (grandparents, relatives and others) who accepted the responsibility to take care of children—many of them were displaced due to the opioid epidemic.
