Promoting Healthy -- and Tasty -- School Meals

Press Release

Free and reduced-priced meals offered through federal school meal programs are an important way to support kids' healthy development and ensure that students from low-income households have access to nutritious breakfasts and lunches while at school.

School meals must be healthy and nutrient-rich, but it's important to ensure that the program remains effective and kids like what's being served. In 2012, the Obama administration enacted new nutrition requirements and standards that have resulted in dropping participation rates in the school meals programs.

"However well-intentioned these requirements may be, they are limiting program effectiveness and causing students to forgo the meals they need. Kids deserve healthy and nutritious meals at school, but if the federal government mandates meals that students won't eat, then Washington is categorically failing to combat hunger," Rep. James Comer (R-KY) said in an opening statement at a subcommittee hearing exploring federal child nutrition programs.

The Council of the Great City Schools submitted a letter to the committee explaining how regulations in the Healthy and Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) made it more expensive to effectively serve their students.

"The HHFKA regulations have added over $1 billion in annual unreimbursed costs to school meal programs and have complicated the ability of school nutritionists and food service staff to provide attractive food options for students," the letter read in part.

Ms. Cheryl Johnson, Director of Child Nutrition and Wellness at the Kansas State Department of Education, stressed to members the need for flexibility and the ability to work with local stakeholders to effectively serve students.

"It is essential to have sufficient lead time to work with Local Educational Agencies once regulatory guidance is received. For example, many Local Educational Agencies begin the procurement process for the next school year in the winter of the current school year. When policy memos and guidance are provided in spring or summer for the upcoming school year, it is challenging to effectively procure and secure competitive pricing . . . Consulting with local stakeholders regarding the realities of implementation is effective," Ms. Johnson testified.

The USDA has recently taken steps to provide increased flexibility to school districts on some of the strictest requirements housed under the HHFKA, a development that was cheered by the National School Boards Association (NSBA).

"[W]e appreciate the increased focus on stakeholder engagement along with the opportunity for school boards to weigh in on policies that will have a far-reaching impact on their school districts," a letter from the NSBA read in part.

As school districts work to comply with new federal regulations on school menu programming, it's important that Congress continues to find ways to boost program participation and keep kids healthy and fed.

"By delivering this flexibility and limiting burdensome paperwork, school districts will be able to customize their cafeteria menus to give the students they know and serve healthy options they will enjoy," Rep. Comer said.

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