PILOT PROJECTS FOR ALTERNATIVE COUNTING METHODS.

SEC. 205. PILOT PROJECTS FOR ALTERNATIVE COUNTING METHODS. (a) General Authority.— Section 18 of the National School Lunch Act (as amended by section 107(2) of this Act) (42 U.S.C. 1769) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: “(g) (1) (A) The Secretary shall carry out a pilot program for purposes of identifying alternatives to— “(i) daily counting by category of meals provided by school lunch programs under this Act; and “(ii) annual applications for eligibility to receive free meals or reduced price meals. “(B) For the purposes of carrying out the pilot program under this paragraph, the Secretary may waive requirements of this Act relating to counting of meals provided by school lunch programs and applications for eligibility. “(C) For the purposes of carrying out the pilot program under this paragraph, the Secretary shall solicit proposals from State educational agencies and local educational agencies for the alternatives described m subparagraph (A). “(2) (A) The Secretary shall carry out a pilot program under which a limited number of schools participating in the special assistance program under section ll(a)(1) that have in attendance children at least 80 percent of whom are eligible for free lunches or reduced price lunches shall submit applications for a 3-year period. “(B) Each school participating in the pilot program under this paragraph shall have the option of determining the number of free meals, reduced price meals, and paid meals provided daily under the school lunch program operated by such school by applying percentages determined under subparagraph (C) to the daily total student meal count. “(C) The percentages determined under this subparagraph shall be established on the basis of the master roster of students enrolled in the school concerned, which— “(i) shall include a notation as to the eligibility status of each student with respect to the school lunch program; and “(ii) shall be updated not later than September 30 of each year. “(3) (A) The Secretary shall carry out a pilot program under which a limited number of schools participating in the special assistance program under section ll(a)(1) that have universal free school lunch pregrams shall have the option of determining the number of free meals, reduced price meals, and paid meals provided daily under the 103 STAT. 911school lunch program operated by such school by applying percentages determined under subparagraph (B) to the daily total student meal count. “(B) The percentages determined under this subparagraph shall be established on the basis of the master roster of students enrolled in the school concerned, which— “(i) shall include a notation as to the eligibility status of each student with respect to the school lunch program; and “(ii) shall be updated not later than September 30 of each year. “(C) For the purposes of this paragraph, a universal free school lunch program is a program under which the school operating the program elects to serve all children in that school free lunches under the school lunch program during any period of 3 successive years and pays, from sources other than Federal funds, for the costs of serving such lunches which are in excess of the value of assistance received under this Act with respect to the number of lunches served during that period. “(4) In addition to the pilot projects described in this subsection, the Secretary may conduct other pilot projects to test alternative counting and claiming procedures. “(5) Each pilot program carried out under this subsection shall be evaluated by the Secretary after it has been in operation for 3 years.”. (b) Implementation.— Not later than July 1, 1990, the Secretary of Agriculture shall issue final regulations to implement section 18(g) of the National School Lunch Act (as added by subsection (a) of this section).