The White House proposed $35 million for kitchen-equipment grants to schools in its fiscal 2017 budget, a $5 million increase from the current year and “more than any budget provided since the 2009 stimulus hand-out” of $100 million, writes Bettina Elias Siegel, author of the blog The Lunch Tray, in a Civil Eats story. “But just how far will $30 or $35 million go to overhaul under-equipped school kitchens? The short answer is: Not very far.”
A 2014 report by Pew Charitable Trusts said 88 percent of school districts lack at least one piece of equipment needed for healthy meals. The most commonly reported problem, according to Pew, was the need for “more physical space.”
The child-nutrition bill pending it the Senate proposed $30 million a year for kitchen equipment grants and low-interest loans for infrastructure projects. Siegel quotes one advocate as saying schools also could maximize revenue by offering breakfast and after-school programs or offering to cater food, with the revenue going into equipment. There are many questions about the future of school food reforms, “But one thing is clear, school districts have been charged with serving healthier food to 31 million kids every day, yet many of them lack — and may continue to lack — the equipment they really need to do the job,” says Civil Eats.