Scratch Cooked Meals for Students Act

This Act may be cited as the “Scratch Cooked Meals for Students Act”.

Section 18 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1769) is amended by inserting before subsection (b) the following new subsection:

“(a) Scratch cooking pilot program.—

(1) In general.—

(A) Establishment.— Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall establish a pilot program to award competitive grants to school food authorities to promote scratch cooking.

(B) Scratch cooking defined.— In this subsection, the term scratch cooking means the preparation of food using ingredients that are unprocessed or minimally processed.

(2) Grant amounts and duration.— A grant awarded under this subsection shall be made for a period of 2 school years.

(3) Eligible uses.— A grant awarded under this subsection shall be used by a school food authority to promote scratch cooking, which may include—

(A) promoting professional development and training related to preparing, procuring, advertising, serving, and creating menus of meals made with scratch cooking;

(B) purchasing cafeteria equipment or making infrastructure modifications necessary for scratch cooking;

(C) employee compensation for additional food preparation necessary for scratch cooking;

(D) providing technical assistance, pupil engagement, and education related to scratch cooking, such as taste tests, recipe development, and culinary education;

(E) investing in software and technology systems for procurement to support scratch cooking; and

(F) carrying out any additional activities to promote scratch cooking that will help school food authorities meet or exceed the nutrition standards for the school lunch program authorized under this Act and the school breakfast program established by section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773).

(4) Priority.— In evaluating grant applications under this subsection, the Secretary shall give the highest priority to school food authorities that—

(A) serve the greatest proportion of students eligible for free or reduced price lunch under this Act;

(B) are—

(i) self-operated; or

(ii) provide an assurance to the Secretary that the school food authority will be self-operated on or before the date that is 1 year before the last day of the grant period; and

(C) either—

(i) have employees who are represented by a collective bargaining agreement or memorandum of understanding, if such employees are permitted by law to be so represented; or

(ii) provide an assurance to the Secretary that the school food authority will, with respect to the employees of such school food authority, negotiate a collective bargaining agreement or memorandum of understanding on or before the date that is 1 year before the last day of the grant period.

(5) Technical assistance.—

(A) In general.— The Secretary shall enter into an agreement with one or more nonprofit organizations to establish and carry out a technical assistance and resource center to provide technical assistance with respect to carrying out subparagraphs (A) through (C) of paragraph (3).

(B) Collaboration requirement.— As soon as practicable after receiving a grant under this subsection, a school food authority shall collaborate with the technical assistance and resource center established under subparagraph (A) to—

(i) conduct a needs assessment to evaluate equipment needs, equipment utilization, procurement processes, and workforce capabilities of the school food authority; and

(ii) based on such needs assessment, establish a strategic plan to carry out the grant under this subsection.

(6) Report.— Not later than 180 days after the conclusion of the grant period described in paragraph (2), each school food authority that receives a grant under this subsection shall submit to the Secretary a report that includes, with respect to such school food authority, the change at the end of the grant period, as compared with the school year immediately preceding the beginning of the grant period, in—

(A) the percentage of whole ingredients, raw ingredients, or both, as a share of total expenditures used in school meals; and

(B) the percentage of menu items prepared with scratch cooking.

(7) Authorization of appropriations.—

(A) In general.— There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this subsection $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2027 through 2031.

(B) Reservations.— Of the amounts made available under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall reserve—

(i) not more than 15 percent for purposes of carrying out paragraph (5), including administrative expenses; and

(ii) not more than 5 percent for other administrative expenses of the Secretary.”.