Free Breakfast School Program in Colorado - Case Study Example

Free Breakfast School Program in Colorado Student’s Name Course Professor Date Quite a number of bills are passed often and they have a major impact on individual or various segments of the society. One of such bill that is unique is, State of Colorado House Bill 13-1006 that proposed free breakfast for students. This paper attempts to get an overview of the bill, tracing its development and legality through the common processes of bill formation and identify its relevance to social work as well as its impact to social fabric. Overview State of Colorado House Bill 13-1006 is synonymously referred to as Breakfast After the Bell Nutrition Program. It was sponsored by Representative Tony Exum of D-Colorado Srpings and Dominick Moreno of D- Commerce City two freshmen lawmakers in the Legislative Assembly. In the Senate, Senator Angela Giron of D-Pueblo was the lead sponsor. HB 13-1006 is a bill which can be said to be an extension of National School Lunch Program. The bill requires public schools in Colorado to offer free breakfast to all students if populations of 70% or more students are part of free or reduced lunch program. However, it gives individual schools an opportunity to choose the time and the manner in which they can provide that breakfast provided it is offered after the first bell of normal school day. The school can choose to do delivery to classrooms in the first period or serve it between passing periods in the morning. However, there exemptions for school districts with a students’ population below 300, those schools with less than 100 students as well as schools which do not participate in federal school lunch programs. Relevance to Social work HB 13-1006 is relevant to social work if looked from an angle of how it relates to social work values. Social work serves to improve subjective well-being and quality of life of groups, individuals and communities through policy and direct practice. The Bill is an important policy that seeks to benefit students that are affected or are socially disadvantaged due to different factors such as poverty or any other reason (Levin & Hewins, 2014). The background behind the bill was to provide students that cannot afford breakfast or who are unable to regularly take breakfast due to either lack of opportunity to do so before school. It acknowledge the basic fact about health, where breakfast offers energy for the day, promote a healthy eating habit, provide wide-range of nutrients and gives the students a better day in school (Storify, 2015). In turn, the bill complements social work value of service by intervening to offer help to students in need of breakfast. It is a practical solution to perceived and existing social problem faced by students. It is a fundamental approach to respect and dignity of students where it notes the worth of students. Being a student is demanding and may mean skipping important activities like breakfast to avoid a negative outcome; failure to arrive at school on time. At the same time, the students are expected to concentrate and compete with others without accounting for challenges that individual students meet at home. Offering breakfast offers a solution that helps overcome students’ individual challenges. The bill reflects a core value of social work as it gives importance to students’ relationships. A school is an opportunity that creates a network or relationship. However, effective relationships can only be forged when the participants are more similar depending on parameters that define them. In turn, noting that the bill is applicable to schools with a population of over 70% taking free or reduced lunch, the breakfast also seeks to bring the students together by ensuring that stereotypes does not develop between those who take food in school and those who carry their own or access in another way. It complements the efforts of social workers who continually engage with different social segments like teachers, parents, nutritionists and students to build a common understanding of a social phenomenon, assess data to come up with action plan. Its implementation will promote another level related to social work by promoting resource acquisition and enhanced role performance by the schools. It will also promote the next activity of social work of monitoring or documentation of short-term and long-term attainment of the goals of the Act. In turn, it will offer an opportunity to offer supportive viewpoints and explore more options. Legislative Process The bill was heard by both the Education and Appropriations committees as it significantly had to do with the ministry and fiscal details pertaining to its implementation and workability. The bill notes that, in case or in an event where Federal per-meal reimbursements directed towards free or reduced breakfasts will be decreased to levels below the 2013, or else the Congress eliminates it altogether under "Child Nutrition Act", or school lunch program, the schools which are required under the bill to offer free breakfast as per this section will automatically be exempted for breakfast program. The department of education will aid in technical assistance to schools on how to submit claims for required reimbursement to breakfast program. It will also develop procedures for allocation and distribution of federal money to schools participating in the program. This bill received what is referred to as bipartisan support and passed through the House Education Committee with only one amendment on an 11-2 vote and the then referred to the Appropriations Committee (Office of School Nutrition, 2014). The bill was amended in the two houses committee and the following concerns were raised. In 2014-15 the bill will only apply to those schools which have more than 80% or more students eligible to free meals. Secondly, districts with less 1,000 students needed not to participate. At the same time, those schools with formal school programs and serve breakfasts can serve the same on the bus (Office of School Nutrition, 2014). The time of serving breakfast was an issue but it was stated that, it only takes 10 minutes to serve and this will not cut in the institutional time. With much opposition, it was agreed that even when it is the responsibility of the parents to feed the child, it is also the responsibility of policy makers to make sure that the children are prepared to learn. Senator Newell supported the bill where he said that the meals will be nutritious for they will have to meet the state and federal guidelines. Jan Tanner of Colorado Springs District testified on the bill on the cost implication of the bill and Senator Giron discussed on possible grant funding to implement the bill. Rick Hughes also testified on the bill where he stated that the bill will have negative fiscal impact on the district (Office of School Nutrition, 2014). According to him, the funding program does not work for all schools. At the same time, Senator Lundberg stated that the bill maybe unconstitutional for it does not administer program anniversary to all schools in the district (Office of School Nutrition, 2014). Monica Deines of Colorado school Nutritional association testified on the bill and stated that the cost models used on the bill did not include all factors and 70% threshold is not sustainable. Sara Odendahl of Live Well Colorado testified in support of the bill and discussed the impact of the bill on educational achievement, low obesity rates and health of children participating in the program (Office of School Nutrition, 2014). The department of education was to develop, provide and distribute procedures or technical assistance before May 1 2014 on how the program will be implemented and enforce the requirement of the article. CDE’s office for School Nutrition will also assist schools to comply with program requirements and rules through subcommittee meetings including staff members and other school nutrition directors. The office will come up with implementation guide as well as training and resources (Office of School Nutrition, 2014). The role of administration of the requirements of the bill is left to the public school, school district as well as to the board of cooperative services. The bill was scheduled to begin in 2015-2016 school years and each year from then. Impact and Opinion The bill directly affects students’ welfare, often by enhancing productivity during school hours by motivating them to be attentive in class and increase inclusion and equality of all students in schools. Breakfast will also enhance health and resilience of children. The program will promote the use of evaluation information to better services to students and improve understanding of complex interaction between breakfast and learning. Indirectly, it will reduce the workload of parents in preparing their children for school and enhance their productivity in other work and profession. It will also create a platform for professional from related fields offering employment and research opportunities. In my own opinion, this is a great bill that addresses issues for a group that may never address such an issue by their own. I think the law is okay and no changes should be made for now before it is implemented and evaluated in terms of its effectiveness. References Breakfast After the Bell Nutrition Program Act, CO. House Bill 13-1006. Levin, M., & Hewins, J. (2014). Universal Free School Meals: Ensuring that All Children Are Able to Learn. Clearinghouse Rev., 47, 390-407. Office of School Nutrition. (July 2014). Breakfast After the Bell Nutrition Program: Overview of House Bill 13-1006. Retrieved 2 March 2015 from http://www.cde.state.co.us/nutrition/osnsbpbreakfastafterthebellnutritionprogramfactsheet. Storify. (2015). Should Colorado Schools Provide Free Breakfast? Retrieved from https://storify.com/WalterPowers/breakfast-after-the-bell. Read More