A Minnesota school is losing out on $170,000 in federal and state funding for deciding not to take part in the controversial National School Meals Program.
Students presented a petition in the fall, outlining their issues with the federal standards. That led to Prior Lake High School abandoning the federal program — and losing out on a six-figure sum of money. Janeen Peterson, the district's director of food services, told the Washington Examiner that opting out of the federal program benefits the students, especially those with active lifestyles.
"Under the federal program, the serving sizes did not meet the needs of our students," she said.
She added that students can now take the serving sizes they want, free from constraint. Fruits and vegetables will be available but not required, as is the case under the federal guidelines.
"Hopefully it will reduce some waste," she said.
While students may benefit, the decrease in federal funding hurts the school financially. Peterson said that the school will increase meal prices from $2.45 to $2.95 "to cover the cost of going off the program." The possibility of disappearing federal dollars has left many cash-strapped school districts will little choice but to participate in the program.