{"data":{"id":"us-wa/rcw-28a.235.270","jurisdiction":"us-wa","citation":"RCW 28A.235.270","heading":"Free or reduced-price meals—School prohibitions.","body":"(1) No school or school district personnel or school volunteer may:\n(a) Take any action that would publicly identify a student who cannot pay for a school meal or for meals previously served to the student, including but not limited to requiring the student to wear a wristband, hand stamp, or other identifying marker, or by serving the student an alternative meal;\n(b) Require a student who cannot pay for a school meal or for meals previously served to the student to perform chores or other actions in exchange for a meal or for the reduction or elimination of a school meal debt, unless all students perform similar chores or work;\n(c) Require a student to dispose of an already served meal because of the student's inability to pay for the meal or because of money owed for meals previously served to the student;\n(d) Allow any disciplinary action that is taken against a student to result in the denial or delay of a nutritionally adequate meal to the student; or\n(e) Require a parent or guardian to pay fees or costs in excess of the actual amounts owed for meals previously served to the student.\n(2) Communications from a school or school district about amounts owed for meals previously served to a student under the age of fifteen may only be directed to the student's parent or guardian. Nothing in this subsection prohibits a school or school district from sending a student home with a notification that is addressed to the student's parent or guardian.\n(3)(a) A school district shall notify a parent or guardian of the negative balance of a student's school meal account no later than ten days after the student's school meal account has reached a negative balance. Within thirty days of sending this notification, the school district shall exhaust all options to directly certify the student for free or reduced-price meals. Within these thirty days, while the school district is attempting to certify the student for free or reduced-price meals, the student may not be denied access to a school meal unless the school district determines that the student is ineligible for free or reduced-price meals.\n(b) If the school district is unable to directly certify the student for free or reduced-price meals, the school district shall provide the parent or guardian with a paper copy of or an electronic link to an application for free or reduced-price meals with the notification required by (a) of this subsection and encourage the parent or guardian to submit the application.","path":["Title 28A","Chapter 28A.235"],"source_url":"https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=28A.235.270","current_through":"July 15, 2026","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-06T01:45:38Z","sha256":"ed6bd65ec13b0c8cca120c356d8e4ff29f42f17b88cff5d73c66e2b696940a3f","source_id":"us-wa","stale":false,"prev":"us-wa/rcw-28a.235.260","next":"us-wa/rcw-28a.235.280"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}