State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell and Assemblyman Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, will propose emergency legislation to appropriate an additional $19.5 million for California's school meal programs, a spokesman from the California Department of Education said today.
The duo will present further details on the bill, AB 95, at a pair of news conferences Friday in San Leandro and Los Angeles.
Ioannis Kazanis of the California Department of Education said the department's own numbers show schools across the state are serving a total of 28 million more meals than they did last school year. That's a 4.5 percent increase, he said, compared with the average increase of about 1 percent a year.
Kazanis thinks the change stems from "parents getting a little tighter with their finances."
Torlakson is running for O'Connell's seat in 2010, when he will be termed out.
The first news conference will be held at 9 a.m. Friday at Corvallis Elementary School, 14790 Corvallis St., in San Leandro.
The second event starts at 1:30 p.m. at the Los Angeles Unified School District's Newman Nutrition Center, 2310 Charlotte St.
