September 30, 2025
Ms. Omar (for herself, Ms. Barragán, Mr. Bishop, Ms. Brownley, Mr. Carson, Mr. Carter of Louisiana, Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Correa, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Evans of Pennsylvania, Mr. Garcia of California, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. Khanna, Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mr. Mullin, Ms. Norton, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Peters, Ms. Plaskett, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Pressley, Mrs. Ramirez, Ms. Salinas, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Simon, Mr. Smith of Washington, Ms. Stansbury, Mr. Takano, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Tokuda, Ms. Velázquez, Mrs. Watson Coleman, and Ms. Wilson of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce
To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require mandatory certification for certain students and reduce stigma associated with unpaid school meal fees, and for other purposes.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the No Shame at School Act of 2025
.
Sec. 2. Unpaid meal debt
(a) Mandatory certification
Section 9(b)(5) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(5)) is amended—
(1)
in the heading, by striking Discretionary
and inserting Mandatory
;
(2)
by striking any local
and inserting a local
; and
(3)
by striking may
and inserting shall
.
(b) Retroactive reimbursement
Section 9(b)(9)(C) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(9)(C)) is amended—
(1)
by striking Except
and inserting the following:
(i) In general
Except;
(2)
by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as subclauses (I) and (II); and
(3)
by adding at the end the following:
(ii) Retroactivity
A local educational agency shall revise a previously submitted meal claim to reflect the eligibility approval of a child for free or reduced price meals for the period that begins on the first day of the current school year.
(iii) Meal claim defined
In this subsection, the term meal claim means any documentation provided by a school food authority to a State agency in order to receive reimbursement for the cost of a meal served to a child by such school food authority.
(c) Reducing stigma associated with unpaid school meal fees
Section 9(b)(10) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)(10)) is amended to read as follows:
(10) Reducing stigma associated with unpaid school meal fees
(A) Overt identification prohibited
A local educational agency or school food authority may not, based on the status of a covered child as a covered child—
(i)
physically segregate such covered child;
(ii)
overtly identify such covered child—
(I)
through the use of special tokens or tickets; or
(II)
by an announcement or a published list of names; or
(iii)
identify or stigmatize such covered child by any other means.
(B) Eligibility determination by local educational agency
For any covered child who is a member of a household that owes a week or more of unpaid school meal fees, a local educational agency shall—
(i)
attempt to directly certify such covered child for free meals under paragraph (4) or (5); or
(ii)
in a case where the local educational agency is not able to directly certify such covered child under paragraph (4) or (5), provide to the household of such covered child—
(I)
a household application and applicable descriptive material; and
(II)
written and oral communications to encourage submission of the application.
(C) Collection of unpaid school meal fees
In attempting to collect unpaid school meal fees from a household, a local educational agency or school food authority may not—
(i)
except as described in subparagraph (D), direct any communication regarding unpaid school meal fees to a covered child who is a member of such household;
(ii)
withhold educational opportunities (including grades and participation in extracurricular activities or local educational agency programs or services) from, or otherwise stigmatize, a covered child due to the status of the covered child as a covered child; or
(iii)
use a debt collector (as such term is defined in section 803 of the Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1692a)).
(D) Letters
A school food authority may require that a covered child deliver a sealed letter addressed to a parent or guardian of the covered child that contains a communication relating to unpaid school meal fees, subject to the condition that the letter shall not be distributed to the covered child in a manner that stigmatizes the covered child.
(E) Eliminating stigma in meal service
In providing a meal to a covered child, a local educational agency or school food authority may not, based on the status of the covered child as a covered child, dispose of or take away from the covered child any food that has already been served to such covered child.
(F) Definitions
In this paragraph:
(i) Covered child
The term covered child means a child who—
(I)
is—
(aa)
enrolled in a school that participates in the school lunch program under this Act or the school breakfast program under section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773); and
(bb)
is a member of a household that owes unpaid school meal fees; or
(II)
is eligible for a free or reduced price lunch under this section.
(ii) Unpaid school meal fees
The term unpaid school meal fees means outstanding fees owed by a household to a local educational agency for lunches under this Act or breakfasts under section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773).