WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
2024 REGULAR SESSION
Introduced Senate Bill 162
BY SENATORS WOELFEL, HAMILTON, CAPUTO, GRADY,
NELSON, AND PLYMALE
[Introduced January 10, 2024]
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1 A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section,
2 designated §18-5D-6, relating to establishing the Summer Feeding for All Program;
3 providing findings; directing a county-by-county assessment of non-school-day student
4 initiative; addressing food insecurities; empowering county school boards to develop
5 initiatives and programs for feeding students in need during summer and other non-school
6 time periods; providing county board reporting requirements to the Office of Child Nutrition;
7 and directing the Office of Child Nutrition to collect and distribute information regarding
8 available food resources.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 5D. WEST VIRGINIA FEED TO ACHIEVE ACT.
§18-5D-6. Summer Feeding for All Program.
1 (a) The Legislature finds and declares that:
2 (1) The Feed to Achieve initiative has successfully improved the availability and
3 awareness for the need to provide nutritious food to state students and the Shared Table Initiative
4 has facilitated a spirit of innovation and conscientiousness in our counties to find alternative ways
5 to feed children in need;
6 (2) A periodic assessment of the needs for county students and availability of county
7 resources is necessary to determine what type of resources are available and needed to reduce
8 food insecurity for students when they are not in school;
9 (3) That expansion of the Shared Table Initiative to include a program to encourage county
10 schools to locate, participate in, and initiate programs to provide meals during summers and non-
11 school-day times when some children may not have access to healthy meals could assist in
12 reducing food insecurity for thousands of children in this state, and therefore, creating a
13 mechanism that is not a directive from the Legislature upon county school boards, but rather an
14 authorization to use school resources to find innovative ways, within the means of the county
15 school systems, to assist the communities they serve, will provide a public benefit.
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16 (b) Every county public school system shall conduct an annual countywide survey of
17 public-school students to determine their non-school eating patterns and the availability of
18 nutritious food to them when schools are closed. The West Virginia Office of Child Nutrition will
19 assist and facilitate with this survey to determine the needs for supplemental food services in
20 every county.
21 (c) Each county board shall also collect and compile information regarding availability of
22 food resources in the county during non-school days and distribute this information to all students.
23 These resources may include any public, private, religious group, or charity that will provide food
24 to children with food insecurity.
25 (d) Each county school board may investigate and implement any program that may
26 facilitate this initiative including, but not limited to, entrepreneurships programs to foster innovation
27 in providing assistance, utilizing participation in programs as a positive discipline option, and
28 creating mentorship programs or other opportunities to participate in a non-school student feeding
29 program.
30 (e) Each county school board shall provide, at a minimum, an annual countywide or a
31 coordinated regional training opportunity, with assistance from the West Virginia Office of Child
32 Nutrition, that ensures that any entity that potentially qualifies as a summer or non-school-day
33 feeding site according to the county survey, is afforded the opportunity to receive training on
34 operation of a feeding site.
35 (f) Each county board shall provide its survey, a summary of its activities, and any findings
36 or recommendations the county school board has related thereto, to the West Virginia Office of
37 Child Nutrition at a date determined each year by that office.
38 (g) The West Virginia Office of Child Nutrition shall monitor these activities and share
39 between counties information about innovative and successful program initiatives around the
40 state to promote and facilitate the Summer Feeding for All Program.
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Statutes affected:
Introduced Version: 18-5D-6