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The House Education and Workforce Committee has proposed legislation that would make substantial changes to the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs, as well as snacks offered in more than 95,000 schools each day. The current draft, which could be revised before its formal introduction, has been prepared as part of Congress’ periodic renewal of child nutrition programs. Jessica Donze Black, director of Pew’s child nutrition project, answered questions about the House’s discussion draft and the current school food landscape.
A: The 2010 law has helped schools serve a wider range of nutritious and appealing choices than ever before and ensure that all foods and drinks sold on campus support kids’ well-being. Recent studies show that students are eating more fruits, vegetables, and healthy entrees, which is remarkable considering that some of the stronger standards took effect less than two years ago.
Many school nutrition leaders had long wanted to raise the nutritional quality of their menus, and in advance of the updated rules began making gradual changes and involving students in the process. Their strategies have helped maintain or even grow children’s participation in meal programs in thousands of districts, and their successes confirm that improving kids’ nutrition and programs’ financial health can go hand in hand.
A: We appreciate that the House is making a child nutrition bill a priority. School meal programs can achieve even more success with the additional resources Congress could provide by passing a bill this year.
Unfortunately, many provisions in the House’s draft are at odds with the progress we’ve seen. That’s particularly disappointing given that the Senate Agriculture Committee crafted a bipartisan child nutrition bill that would help schools build on their gains and remove obstacles to further improvement. The House bill would essentially roll back certain science-based standards for meals and snacks so that schools could sell foods with little or no nutritional benefit.
A: One serious concern is that this proposal would weaken nutrition standards for foods sold in cafeteria a la carte lines. For example, today desserts such as cookies, cake, and ice cream may be offered as part of a balanced meal or sold separately as a snack if they are within calorie, fat, and sugar limits. The committee’s bill would toss out guidelines for foods sold a la carte, allowing schools to fill serving lines with less healthy versions of these “occasional” treats. Children as young as 5 years old could go from having cookies or fries with their lunches once in a while to buying and eating them every day.
A: It’s very likely they would. Although the committee’s draft would not directly modify rules for full meals, the legislation instructs the U.S. Department of Agriculture to regularly review school meal program regulations, including nutrition standards, and revise them if school administrators report that compliance has increased their costs or discouraged student participation in meal programs. So, although 98 percent of districts are already meeting lunch requirements, claims of hardship from a few could force the USDA to lower the bar for all schools.
The USDA’s current approach to assist struggling programs is the right one: The department offers free training, technical assistance, and other resources to help districts serve healthy meals and overcome budget issues, which may be related to local decisions about workforce policies, meal prices, menu design, and other factors. The draft bill would essentially allow the least successful programs to drive the nation’s school nutrition policies. And that would be a big step in the wrong direction.
A: Yes. States already have the authority to determine how often to exempt on-campus food-based fundraisers from national nutrition standards, and 46 have taken action to establish or revise their rules in recent years. Meanwhile, many districts have been inspired to choose fundraising activities that promote student and community wellness such as walk-a-thons and sales of plants or fruit rather than candy or pizza. The committee’s draft would remove the national guidelines that many states have referenced in their policies, which could complicate state and local efforts to promote healthy fundraising practices.
A: We strongly encourage schools to invite parents and families to eat meals with their children, but there is no reason to make those menus less nutritious than the meals they serve every day. What message would it send to students if schools implied that they should not eat healthy foods with their families?
School meal programs can—and often do—use special occasions to showcase their healthy, creative recipes and build support among parents and the community. For instance, we’ve seen schools celebrate Grandparents Day by inviting families to a delicious Thanksgiving feast that featured locally grown produce and met current lunch nutrition guidelines.
A: The draft legislation would reduce the number of schools eligible for this provision, which has been shown to limit the paperwork required of schools and families, reduce error rates in program applications, and combat hunger by increasing children’s participation in meal programs. Currently, if 40 percent or more of a school’s students receive aid from other federal food or antipoverty programs, the school can opt to offer free meals to all students. The proposal would raise the threshold to 60 percent of students, requiring thousands of schools to go back to collecting and processing free or reduced-price lunch applications from each family.
A: The bill does prioritize some important investments in school nutrition. The federal reimbursement for breakfasts would rise by 2 cents per meal. (For most districts, current reimbursement rates range from 29 cents per student who pays full price to about $2 for each student receiving a free meal.) The legislation also would help districts get access to more federal assistance to renovate outdated and poorly equipped kitchens and cafeterias.
About 9 in 10 school meal programs need at least one additional piece of equipment to serve lunches that meet today’s nutrition standards, and over half need infrastructure improvements such as electrical and plumbing upgrades. The reauthorization bills proposed in the House and Senate include core pieces of the bipartisan School Food Modernization Act, which would authorize federal grants to help schools purchase food service equipment and secure low-interest loans to pay for more extensive kitchen remodeling.
A: We strongly encourage the House and Senate to build on areas of relative agreement between their bills, such as support for school kitchen equipment, and to take advantage of the bipartisan interest in reauthorizing child nutrition programs this year.
Schools have a huge opportunity—and responsibility—to help the nation’s children grow up healthy. For every 10 students, six get lunches from their schools, four get snacks, and about three receive breakfasts. Voters with children in public schools support the current nutrition standards by a 3-1 margin. We hope House members will listen to parents, reconsider proposals that would reduce the nutritional quality of food served to students, and pass a bill that helps all schools meet high standards.
