Congress should offer free meals to all public school students and increase the federal reimbursement for each meal that is served, said the School Nutrition Association on Tuesday, speaking for school food directors. “Research shows students eat their healthiest meals at school, and school nutrition programs need Congress’ support to sustain that achievement,” said SNA president Chris Derico.
As the SNA released its 2024 position paper, Derico said, “Inadequate funds and overly restrictive rules will soon cripple school meal programs.” SNA members reported in a survey having difficulty in offering competitive pay for cafeteria and kitchen workers in a tight labor market and in procuring the lower-sodium and whole grain products that are required for school meals.
Some 28.5 million pupils a day participated in the school lunch program and 14.3 million took part in the school breakfast program at latest count, said USDA data. The government will spend $33.5 billion on child nutrition programs this fiscal year, according to CBO estimates, with 69 cents of every $1 going to school lunch and school breakfast. Most of the meals are served for free or at a reduced price for children from low-income households.
The SNAP asked for an additional reimbursement of 40 cents for each lunch and 15 cents for each breakfast. “With the last of pandemic funds expiring in September, school meal programs are ill-equipped to to manage rising expenses,” said the SNA. Only 17 percent of respondents in the SNA survey said current reimbursement rates cover the cost of producing a lunch. Reimbursements for the 2023-24 school year were set at $4.25 for each lunch and $2.28 for each breakfast served for free in the 48 contiguous states.
A year ago, the USDA proposed new standards for school meals, including the first limit on sugar, as part of bringing school food into line with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The SNA said nutrition standards should remain at “the current, successful” levels, “which already limit calories, fat and sodium and require fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein and low-far milk in schools.” Palatability and student acceptance already is a challenge, it said.
“Look, this is incredibly important and we know it works,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack when he unveiled the proposal. New standards on sugar, sodium, whole grains and flavored milk would be phased-in on a staggered basis.
Expansion of the school food program would be costly. Some 50.7 million children attended public elementary and secondary schools in 2018, according to IBISWorld. When schools served universal free meals during the pandemic, school lunch participation reached a high of 31.5 million students a day in March 2022
The SNA 2024 School Nutrition Trends survey report is available here.
The USDA home page for the school lunch program is available here.