The Republican-controlled House Education Committee would reduce access to a program that allows schools in high-poverty areas to offer free meals to all of their students, says the School Nutrition Association. A draft bill being circulated by the committee would set the threshold for participation in the Community Eligibility Provision to 60 percent from the current 40 percent of students in poverty.
“We strongly oppose language to change the threshold for participating in the Community Eligibility Provision, a program which has greatly benefited schools, students and families,” said SNA president Jean Ronnei.
The change was part of a 175-page bill to reauthorize child nutrition programs that cost roughly $12 billion a year. School lunch and school breakfast are the largest of the programs. SNA said the draft bill includes a 2-cent increase in the reimbursement rate for school breakfast, another delay in a requirement to reduce salt levels in school food, and more freedom to sell food on the a la carte line.
More than 18,000 schools in 3,000 districts are utilizing the community eligibility program this school year, said a report by the anti-hunger Food Research and Action Center and the think tank Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. “These schools serve more than 8.5 million students who now have access to two healthy meals a day at school,” said the report. More than half of all eligible high-poverty schools are part of the program, which became available in the 2014-15 school year. The groups said the community eligibility program reduces paperwork and administrative burdens on schools and allows them to operate their food programs more efficiently.