Two Congresswomen have introduced a bill aimed at providing students with adequate lunch times.
The Healthy Meal Time Act would require the Department of Agriculture to perform a study to look at lunch-time best practices in schools across the country. Information from the study could then be shared with schools when planning schedules. There are currently no federal guidelines for how much time should be allotted for school meals.
The bill was introduced by Reps. Kim Schrier, D-Wash., and Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore.
Rushed lunch periods continue to be a problem for school districts throughout the country. Earlier this year, six schools in Washington state received $136,000 from the state budget to participate in a pilot program in which they would rearrange their school day to include a longer lunch period.