The U.S. Department of Agriculture will present more than $8 million in grants to help school nutrition professionals better prepare healthy meals for students.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made the announcement for the additional funding Tuesday while speaking at the National Press Club.
Approximately $2.6 million will support training programs to help school districts—which manage National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs—meet the new professional standards for cafeteria staff that took effect on July 1. The remaining $5.6 million will help states provide nutrition education in school, childcare and summer meal programs.
“Nearly all schools are successfully meeting the standards, and these grants are part of our ongoing commitment to give states and schools the additional resources they need,” Vilsack said in a statement.
Although the USDA reports that 95 percent of schools are successfully meeting the nutrition standards of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, a recent survey by the School Nutrition Association (SNA) revealed that meeting the mandates has harmed the financial health of nearly 70 percent of school-meal programs surveyed, while benefitting fewer than 3 percent.
Key findings indicated that although virtually all (99 percent) respondents have implemented or plan to implement initiatives to promote healthier choices to students, 58 percent reported that student lunch participation has declined.
Vilsack said he’s not convinced that the healthier standards have caused participation rates to drop.
“The reality is school breakfast participation is up,” Vilsack told The Hill. “We’re now seeing 13 million school breakfast meals being served a day and we know how important that first meal of the day can be.”
As lawmakers return from summer recess, with plenty of legislation pending, the SNA is urging Congress to not let reauthorization of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids act lapse, and is calling for greater funding and flexibility to participating schools.
Vilsack has also called on congress to strengthen the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which expires Sept. 30.
This is an important opportunity for the country to reinforce the good work that was done in 2010 [with the passage of the Act], to expand on it, to solidify it, to institutionalize it, and to strengthen it,” Vilsack said.