School Health and Wellness: State and Federal Legislation and Policy | Page 4

SCHOOL HEALTH AND WELLNESS:
STATE AND FEDERAL LEGISLATION AND POLICY

Developing school or district wellness plans, policies, or programs?
Updating your existing efforts? This resource highlights state and

federal policies, statutes, and regulations that influence local school
and district health and wellness policies and practices.

FEDERAL SCHOOL HEALTH AND WELLNESS LEGISLATION
Public Law 111-296: Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. In 2010, federal legislation
reauthorized the nutrition act — now called the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. It
requires schools that participate in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA)
school meal programs to:
• Meet new nutrition standards for national school lunch and breakfast
programs.

• Implement nutrition standards for all snack foods and beverages sold to
children at school during the school days. The new “Smart Snacks in School”
guidelines allow schools to offer healthier snack foods to children while
limiting unhealthy items.
• Strengthen local wellness policies by adding rules for public input,
transparency, and implementation (rules anticipated in 2015).

To help local educational agencies comply with this legislation