The School Nutrition Association (SNA) released its 2020 legislative agenda yesterday, and its top priority is an ambitious one: asking Congress to eliminate the “reduced price” category of school meal reimbursement.
If adopted, this proposal would significantly expand the number of children entitled to free school meals, greatly reduce unpaid meal debt, and go a long way toward ending the terrible problem of “lunch-shaming.”
From Three Tiers to Two
Right now, students who pass through the cafeteria line are divided into three “tiers” by the federal government: those from families with incomes at or below 130 percent of the poverty level are entitled to eat for free, those with a family income between 130 percent and 185 percent of the poverty level pay a reduced price, and those with a higher family income pay for the meal in full.
But in reality, children in that middle category often go without the school meals to which they’re entitled. That’s because it can be hard for these families (earning between $33,475 to $47,638 for a family of four) to come up with a 30 cent co-pay for breakfast and a 40 cent co-pay for lunch, five days a week, for each child in the household. According to the SNA, more than 936,000 students approved for reduced price school lunches didn’t receive them on the average school day in 2019.
Some states, including Minnesota, Maine, and Oregon, have already eliminated the reduced price category by providing additional funding to districts. Doing so on a federal level would significantly reduce districts’ unpaid meal debt (a growing problem) and the related concern of stigmatizing children with outstanding meal charges. It would also allow districts to redirect the resources they now devote to debt collection to serving better school meals.
Expanding Direct Certification
The SNA also hopes to expand access to school meals in another way: by broadening what’s known as “direct certification.”
Currently, districts are allowed to automatically provide free meals (without the need for paperwork) to any child whose family participates in SNAP (the food stamp program), TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), or FDPIR (Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations), or who is migrant or homeless, or who is in foster care or Head Start.
But under a directive in the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA), several states have experimented with using Medicaid participation as another means of directly certifying children. The SNA is now asking that all states be allowed to follow suit—another positive step in getting school food to the kids who need it most.
Asking for More Time to Eat
Studies show that when children don’t have enough time to eat school meals, they suffer nutritionally. So it’s good news that the SNA will also be asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Education to develop guidance on ensuring students have adequate time for school meals—including at least 20 to 25 minutes of seated time after they get their food.
Maintaining Trump Nutrition Roll-Backs
And now for the less-good news: the SNA has also announced that it will seek to maintain the USDA’s final rule weakening three school nutrition standards.
In prior years, the organization justified its lobbying for these nutritional roll-backs by claiming that the HHFKA’s stronger standards led to increased food waste and lower student participation. But a comprehensive 2019 study (commissioned—but then buried—by the USDA itself) soundly refuted those claims. So it’s disheartening (but not at all surprising) that the SNA is seeking to maintain the new status quo.
You can read the rest of the SNA’s legislative wish list here. And now for two more school food news items:
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- In his 2020-21 budget proposal, California governor Gavin Newsom has asked for a $70 million expenditure to improve school meals. If the proposal is adopted, it would represent a 40 percent increase in the state’s school meal funding. More details here.
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- The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has just published a new and important editorial taking stock of the last decade of school food reform—”Documented Success and Future Potential of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act“—written by Marlene Schwartz, director of the UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, and Juliana Cohen, an adjunct professor at the Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health.
- “A blueprint for how to raise healthy eaters in a fast-food culture”—New York Times
- “One of the Best Books of 2019 (So Far)” — Real Simple
- “Everyone who has children should read Kid Food. And everyone who doesn’t should read it, too.” — Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation.
Look for my new book, Kid Food: The Challenge of Feeding Children in a Highly Processed World. For more information, visit bettinasiegel.com.
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