Establishing requirements for school meal programs, including flexible bidding for farmers

This law directs the state board of education to adopt rules to establish standards and requirements for school meal programs, including for nutrition standards and free and reduced-price meal eligibility. At section 49-6-2303 (6) the law specifies that the rules must also direct local school boards to submit plans for compliance, and directs that such plans must consider local agriculture product availability, freshness, and methods of transportation; and allow flexible bidding processes that enable farmers to bid on portions of a given contract, rather than the entire contract.