Child Nutrition
AASA advocates for the highest quality public education for all students, and develops and supports school system leaders.As educators leading entire systems of students, school superintendents not only recognize and understand the importance of student nutrition and school meal programs, but are uniquely positioned to ensure that the nation’s school systems provide nutritious meals to students as part of a broader educational mission. AASA supports and advocates a federal school nutrition program that balances the critical need of providing nutritious meals in the school setting with the systemic realities of administering a program. AASA’s opposition to the 2010 Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act was in response to a poorly crafted policy, not to school nutrition in the whole. In fact, our ongoing responses to proposed regulations related to the law demonstrate our unshaking commitment to making school nutrition a reality, one that works for students, schools and systems leaders.
AASA remains committed to making improvements to current law, including ongoing proposed changes through regulations as well as proposed legislation that modifies/repeals problematic aspects or current law and/or provides increased flexibility to local education agencies as they work to implement the school nutrition programs.
Community Eligibility: The USDA is expanding its successful Community Eligibility Provision from pilot status to national program. That means that any eligible school could serve ALL students free breakfast and lunch. While this provision/flexibility may not be for everyone, it is something that will be helpful to some AASA members, and as such, we are covering it on the blog. The 2014-15 school year is the first time the option will be available to all eligible schools. The change technically takes place on July 1, 2014 and schools have until August 31, 2014 to notify their state agency of their intent to participate. The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) provides an alternative approach for offering school meals to schools in low income areas. Rather than collecting individual applications for free/reduced price meals, CEP allows schools in communities with higher concentrations of poverty to offer free meals to ALL students, not just those who are eligible. The program launched as a pilot in 10 states and the District (IL, KY, MI, NY, OH, WV, FL, GA, MD, and MA). To be eligible, a school district must have at least 40% of its enrolled students identified as eligible for free/reduced lunch. If that is the case, the school can serve free lunches and breakfasts to ALL students. Household applications for free/reduced price meals are not collected. Full information is available on the blog: http://www.aasa.org/aasablog.aspx?id=33798&blogid=286
Summer Nutrition: AASA endorsed Sen. Patty Murray’s Stop Child Summer Hunger Act (S 2366). The bill proposes an expansion for the already existing Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), which works to provide meals to low-income children during the summer months. The current pilot runs in 14 sites across 10 states. This bill would make it nation wide. Eligible families would receive a pre-loaded EBT card that they can use to obtain food over the summer months. A family eligible for the free/reduced lunch program would be eligible for this summer program. The USDA Secretary will make the cards and any related information, such as details on who is eligible, how to enroll, and information on making more healthful food choices, available to schools, who will work to distribute the cards in a manner they see fit. AASA was pleased to work with Senator Murray’s office to ensure that the burden to schools in implementing a summer program was not unduly burdensome, and is pleased to support the final version of the bill, which reflects key revisions AASA pursued.
School Equipment and Waiver Flexibility: The House Agriculture Appropriations bill included $25 million for school lunch equipment, funding AASA supports. The bill also includes a proposal to require the USDA Secretary to establish a process by which a state can grant a temporary waiver of compliance from the national nutritional standards. The waiver is critical in providing LEAs relief from the soaring operational costs associated with the federal mandates, however unintended, as well as increased plate waste and decreased program participation. AASA applauds this waiver as a flexibility to provide relief to school districts struggling to balance the demands of the higher standards with the lack of adequate federal support.
Talking Points:
· Explain to your Senators and Representatives that these bills represent unfunded mandates that will shift funding burden to schools, who will in turn have to either increase the paid lunch price or cut other areas of the school budget, neither of which is a palatable option in the tight economic situation.
· Urge your Senator to support the Stop Child Summer Hunger Act.
· Urge your Senator and Representative to support waiver language that would allow the USDA Secretary to establish a process by which states can grant temporary waivers of compliance to the national nutritional standards, so long as the waivers are neither conditional nor limited in availability (any flexibility must be available to all entities).