The government should permanently adopt the innovations of the pandemic that made school meals available when classrooms were idle and allowed WIC interviews by phone and video rather than requiring applicants to appear in person, said Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow on Thursday. “We need to take action once again today,” she said, comparing the pending update of child nutrition to landmarks such as creation of the school lunch program in 1946 and WIC in 1972.
Congress overhauled child nutrition, an array of programs that cost a combined $30 billion a year, in 2010 with requirements that schools serve healthier food — more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and less salt, fat, and sugar. Lawmakers intervened repeatedly to slow, or halt, stricter standards on milk, salt, and whole grains. The Trump administration restored chocolate milk to school cafeterias in 2018.
“Feeding kids is not and should not be a partisan issue,” said Stabenow at the first Senate Agriculture Committee hearing of the year on child nutrition reauthorization. “New tools helped schools reach more children in need” during the pandemic. “As we transition back to in-person learning, we have to use all of the tools in our toolbox to feed our kids and reduce burdens on schools, day cares and parents.”
Republican senators joined Stabenow in calling for a bipartisan reauthorization though without stricter rules on milk, salt, and whole grains. The senior Republican on the committee, John Boozman of Arkansas, said the summer meals program should reach more school-age children and supported a streamlining of child nutrition and WIC.
Stricter rules on milk, salt and whole grains could be self-defeating, said Boozman, by driving up costs for school food directors and by putting unpalatable food on the lunch tray.
The School Nutrition Association, speaking for school food directors, says all students should be given school lunch and breakfast for free. The expansion of school food programs would “ensure no child goes hungry during the school day or accrues unpaid school debt,” it says. The SNA also seeks emergency financial relief because of providing food during the pandemic, when closures reduced participation. The USDA pays a share of the cost of meals served by schools.
School lunch participation averaged 32.5 million pupils a day in March 2020 but dropped to 6 million the following month during stay-at-home orders, according to USDA data. Last November, participation averaged 12.9 million students a day. During the pandemic, schools have offered meals at curbside and in the classroom as well as the cafeteria, and in many cases did not charge for them.
Diane Golzynski of the Michigan Education Department said Congress should consider expanding the Community Eligibility Provision, which allows schools in low-income neighborhoods to serve meals for free to all students, or eliminating the reduced-price category for school meals. Two-thirds or more of school lunches are free, and about 5 percent are reduced-price.
Dr. Lee Beers, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said the USDA needed to do more to attract pregnant women and new mothers to WIC. “We are really seeing in our offices that child nutrition is really suffering now,” said Beers, who suggested co-locating WIC clinics with medical buildings so it would be easier for parents to enroll in WIC. At present, just half of eligible women are enrolled in the program, which provides additional food and health referrals.
Other witnesses suggested the government should support an afternoon snack or dinner for children who are in childcare centers all day and relax rules that require children in the summer food program to eat at a central location.
To watch a video of the hearing or to read written testimony by witnesses, click here.