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119-s-2944119th CongressWALLET

No Shame at School Act of 2025

Sponsored By: Senator Smith, Tina [D-MN]

Introduced

Summary

Mandatory certification for free or reduced-price school meals would require schools to verify eligibility, retroactively adjust reimbursements to match current-year eligibility, and prohibit practices that identify or punish students over unpaid meal fees.

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  • Families and students: Stops overt or covert identification of children with unpaid meal fees, bans discarding or removing meals once served, and bars using debt collectors or denying educational activities. Schools may send sealed letters and must limit communications so they do not shame children.
  • Local educational agencies: Would be required to perform eligibility certification rather than optionally doing so, must attempt direct certification, and must give households an application and guidance if direct certification is not possible.
  • Reimbursements and records: Requires local educational agencies to revise previously submitted meal claims to reflect a child’s eligibility for free or reduced-price meals beginning with the first day of the current school year, and defines a "meal claim" as the documentation used to obtain State reimbursement for meals.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

2 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.

Protect students from meal‑debt shaming

If enacted, the bill would protect students from being shamed over school meal debt. Schools could not contact a child about unpaid meal fees. Schools could ban debt collectors and could not withhold grades or stop a child from activities for meal debt. Schools could not single out children with tickets, announcements, lists, or physical separation. Schools could not take away or throw out food already served to a covered child. The bill would define who counts as a covered child and what unpaid meal fees mean.

Mandatory meal certification and retro pay

If enacted, the bill would require schools to try to certify a child for free meals when a household owes one week of unpaid meal fees. Schools would first try direct certification. If direct certification is not possible, schools would give a free-meal application, materials, and written and oral encouragement to apply. Schools would also have to revise prior meal reimbursement claims to reflect a child’s approved eligibility from the first day of the current school year. This could let schools seek retroactive payments and reduce a household's meal debt after approval.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Smith, Tina [D-MN]

MN • D

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

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