Congress considers school lunch reauthorization

9/9/03 -- As Congress begins to consider major changes to the school lunch program, two of the most important issues for local school boards are the possibility of limitations on "competitive foods" and requirements that districts improve their auditing procedures.

A Senate bill to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act is expected to be introduced later this fall, says a spokesperson with the Agriculture Committee, which has jurisdiction for this issue.

In the House, however, the matter has been assigned to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and a spokesperson for that committee says it is uncertain whether a bill can be introduced before Congress adjourns at the end of the year.

NSBA's top priorities in reauthorizing the Child Nutrition Act are "to expand and enhance policies that ensure local control and increase flexibility," says Associate Executive Director Michael A. Resnick in a letter to members of Congress.

The Surgeon General's 2001 report on the childhood obesity crisis is boosting the efforts of nutrition advocates and some members of Congress to ban sodas and other junk food from school vending machines and other locations on school campuses. Such efforts also could affect the ability of districts to contract with private companies for "pouring rights," which generate badly needed revenue for instructional programs.

Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) introduced a bill in May to allow the Agriculture Secretary to restrict the sale of sodas and other junk food in schools.

NSBA believes such a ban would usurp local school boards' authority to set school policy and approve business arrangements to benefit their schools.

According to the U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA), 19 states have passed laws to limit students' access to junk food. And many school boards have adopted such policies or have taken steps to make school lunches more nutritious.

"Schools are unfairly being blamed for contributing to childhood obesity," says Joan Wodiska, director of federal legislation at NSBA. Only 13 percent of a child's yearly food consumption occurs at school, she notes.

According to Resnick, parents, communities, health professionals, food manufacturers, the prepared food industry, and the television industry -- as well as schools -- all bear responsibility for children's nutrition and should work to encourage healthy eating habits and lifestyles.

Moreover, banning junk food from schools will not prevent children from bringing such food from home. "Changing the availability or type of food offered in schools will not address the core essence that drives healthy eating," Resnick says.

A spokesperson for the Republican members of the Senate Agriculture Committee says "there seems to be support for letting school districts make local decisions" on competitive foods. "There are other ways of encouraging schools to provide more nutritious meals, such as pilot programs to promote more fruit and vegetables."

A spokesperson for the House education committee says that while some members are concerned about obesity among children, "the committee will look at how to balance healthy choices with what kids will eat and the right of school boards to have contracts with private venders."

Rep. Michael Castle (R-Del.), chair of the Education Reform Subcommittee, introduced the Childhood Obesity Prevention Act, which would fund pilot programs to promote healthy eating and increased physical activity among children.

Rep. Ric Keller (R-Fla.), a member of the full committee, has introduced legislation to discourage lawsuits against schools with vending machines.

The other key issue for school boards involves the USDA's proposal to require school officials to certify every child who applies for free or reduced-priced meals to ensure that only those children eligible for the subsidies receive them.

Currently, schools approve children for free and reduced-price lunches based on applications submitted by parents in which they self-report monthly income and household size.

Children from families with incomes at or below 130 percent of the poverty level are eligible for free meals. Those with incomes between 130 and 185 percent of the poverty level are eligible for reduced-price meals.

Studies have shown that for every ineligible child discovered through an intensive auditing system, five or six poor children entitled to free or reduced-price lunches will no longer receive them. That's because many poor parents fail to fill out the forms.

The elimination of so many children from the system will have "significant repercussions for school districts that go far beyond the school lunch program," Wodiska says.

Many programs, from Title I to the e-rate, use the numbers of children receiving school lunch benefits to determine districts' funding levels. A reduction in the number of students on the school lunch lists could mean less federal funding for districts at a time when state and local education budgets are shrinking.

In addition, Wodiska says, the additional paperwork -- and the associated costs -- necessitated by mandatory verification of student applications for free and reduced-priced lunches would be a "costly unfunded federal mandate."

According to the Senate spokesperson, no decisions have been made on this issue but committee members "want to streamline the paperwork and want to make sure that the program includes children intended to be served."

The House committee aide says there aren't likely to be major changes in this area, adding that reports in the media that the federal government spent more than $1 billion on providing free lunches to ineligible children "may have been overstated."

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Reproduced with permission from the 2003 issue of School Board News. Copyright © 2003, National School Boards Association. Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect positions of NSBA. This article may be printed out and photocopied for individual or educational use, provided this copyright notice appears on each copy. This article may not be otherwise transmitted or reproduced in print or electronic form without the consent of the Publisher. For more information, call (703) 838-6789.