SMARTER SCHOOL LUN
States and School Districts Need More Flex
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP)
and School Breakfast Program (SBP) are
theoretically designed to provide nutritious and
well-balanced meals to school children across
the nation. The programs allow participating
public and nonprofit private schools to serve
free meals to children who are near, at, or
below the poverty line, and reduced meals
to children who are just above it. The United
States Department of Agriculture’s Food and
Nutrition Service administers 15 nutrition
assistance programs that include the National
School Lunch Program, School Breakfast
Program, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program (SNAP), Special Supplemental
Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and
Children (WIC), and the Summer Food
Service Program. Together, these programs
comprise America’s nutrition safety net.
Unfortunately, in our schools many of these
meals are unappealing to the children expected
to eat them. Therefore, they are not consumed
and defeat the very purpose for which they
are designed. There’s an old saying that you
can lead a horse to water but you can’t make
him drink. In this case, well-meaning public
health reformers who have worked hard to
improve the nutritional value of public school
lunches cannot force the children to eat them.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue
stated: “If kids aren’t eating the food, and it’s
ending up in the trash, they aren’t getting any
nutrition – thus
undermining the intent of the program.” A
study done by the University of Vermont
found that while children placed more fruits
and vegetables on their trays - as required
by the USDA mandates put in place in 2012
- they consumed fewer of them. The amount
of food wasted increased by 56 percent, the
researchers found.
The Trump administration and the United
States Department of Agriculture are now
extending “flexibilities” to the Child Nutrition
Program to address this issue. This process
will restore local control of guidelines on
whole grains, sodium, and milk. Hopefully,
this process will result in making child nutrition
programs more efficient for states and school
districts to implement, and more appealing and
palatable for children. It is imperative to give
schools more flexibility and greater control
in meeting federal nutrition standards for
school meals. While it is important to promote
healthful eating, districts are better positioned
and more proficient in menu planning in order
to serve nutritious and appealing meals than
the federal government.
By giving states and districts increased
flexibility it does not mean well-balanced
meals are not going to be provided. That
would be counter-intuitive as there is a link
that healthier eating does improve academic
performance in children. The research (The
Effect of Providing Breakfast in Class on
Student Performance) demonstrates that
the connection between school meals and
student test scores has focused on improving
access rather than the meals’ nutritional
value. However, in the last decade, schools
have been facing increasing fiscal burdens as
they attempt to adhere to existing, stringent
nutrition requirements. According to USDA
figures, school food requirements cost school
districts and states an additional $1.22 billion