Current through Register Vol. 63, No. 9, September 1, 2024
(1) As used in this
section:
(a) "Education service district" has
the meaning given that term in ORS
334.003.
(b) "Eligible entity" means a school
district, a provider of center-based programs for children, or a service
institution.
(c) "Food processed in
the State of Oregon" includes but is not limited to foods that were baked,
frozen, ground, canned, or milled in the State of Oregon.
(d) "Food produced in the State of Oregon"
includes but is not limited to foods that were grown, caught, harvested, or
raised in the State of Oregon.
(e)
"Minimally processed" means that the food product was processed in a manner
that does not fundamentally alter the product and the product retains its
inherent character. The term includes, but is not limited to, butchering
livestock and poultry, cleaning fish, dicing meats, slicing produce, forming
ground food products into patties, grinding meats, drying or dehydrating food
products, and washing produce.
(f)
"Provider of center-based programs for children" means a child care center
certified by the Office of Child Care, a Head Start center, an Oregon
prekindergarten program, a school district, or an education service district
that both provides non-residential child care services to enrolled children and
participates in the federal Child and Adult Care Food Program.
(g) "Service institution" means a public or
private nonprofit school, a public or private nonprofit residential summer
camp, or other program sponsor that participates in the federal Summer Food
Service Program.
(h)
(A) "School district" means an Oregon common
school district, joint school district, union high school district, or public
charter school.
(B) "School
district" does not include an education service district.
(2) The purpose of the
noncompetitive Oregon Farm-to-School grant for Reimbursement of Oregon foods is
to assist eligible entities with paying the costs they incur purchasing foods
that were:
(a) Produced in the State of
Oregon;
(b) More than minimally
processed in the State of Oregon; or
(c) Both produced and processed in the State
of Oregon.
(3) An
eligible entity which receives a noncompetitive Oregon Farm-to-School grant for
Reimbursement of Oregon foods may reserve up to twenty-five percent of the
total amount awarded for all reasonable costs incurred including:
(a) Growing, harvesting, processing,
packaging, sourcing, or transporting food produced or processed in the State of
Oregon, including but not limited to purchasing supplies, labor costs, and
mileage; grantees may partner with other entities to provide this
support.
(b) Providing education to
children about foods produced or processed in the State of Oregon;
and
(c) Promoting the use of foods
produced or processed in the State of Oregon to children.
(4) The purchase of certain foods produced or
processed in the State of Oregon may not be supplanted with grant funds. The
department shall develop and publish a list of those foods. Recipients of a
noncompetitive Oregon Farm-to-School grant for Reimbursement of Oregon Foods
may not use their grants to supplant purchases of foods produced or processed
in the State of Oregon that are included on the current list of ineligible
foods published by the department.
(5) Recipients of a noncompetitive Oregon
Farm-to-School grant for Reimbursement of Oregon Foods must deposit the grant
funds they receive in an account that is separate from their nonprofit food
service account, or assign those funds a separate account or index
number.
(6)
(a) For purposes of this subsection,
"reimbursable meal" means a reimbursable breakfast, lunch, snack, or supper
that is provided by an eligible entity through the federal National School
Lunch, Child and Adult Care Food Program, or Summer Food Service
Programs.
(b) The amount of a
noncompetitive Oregon Farm-to-School Program grant recipient's award will be
based on the number of reimbursable meals served by the recipient through the
federal National School Lunch and Summer Food Service Programs during the
previous school year and summer.
(c) The department may develop or adopt a
formula or method for converting different types of reimbursable meals and
snacks to the equivalent of a reimbursable lunch. The department will publish
the formula or method chosen on its website.
(7)
(a) The
department may reallocate noncompetitive grant for Reimbursement of Oregon
Foods funds to other eligible entities if noncompetitive grant for
Reimbursement of Oregon Foods funds either remain after awards are made or
become unobligated, or if a grant recipient is not making adequate progress
towards spending all of its grant award during the biennium in which the award
was made.
(b) The department will
notify noncompetitive grant for Reimbursement of Oregon Foods recipients if
their claimed program expenses do not show that the recipients are making
adequate progress towards spending all of their grant awards during the
biennium in which the awards were made.
(8) The Department of Education will apply
the Oregon Equity Lens when administering this grant including when determining
resource allocation and making strategic investments.
Statutory/Other Authority: ORS
326.051
Statutes/Other Implemented: ORS
336.431
