Salem, Ore. – A so-called “lunch shaming” bill received its first public hearing in the Oregon House Rules Committee Thursday.
The bi-partisan sponsored bill is intended to prevent students from being publicly “shamed” when their parent or guardian fails to pay their school lunch bill.
House Bill 3454 would make it illegal to publicly identify students whose accounts are overdue and forbid schools from forcing students to work in order to pay off their bill.
Co-sponsor Mike McLane (R-Powell Butte) said, “This bill is not intended to let anyone off the hook for paying for lunch, it simply says we want schools to go directly to parents when a billing problem comes up rather than potentially embarrassing a student in the process,” said co-sponsor Rep. McLane (R-Powell Butte). “I am hopeful that this legislation will be the starting point in a productive dialogue about how we can continue to provide food security to students while they are at school.”
HB 3454 is modeled after similar legislation in other states, according to McLane.
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