What’s In The Child Nutrition Bill For Hungry Kids?

We all know by now–or certainly should–that far too many children in this wealthy country simply don’t get enough to eat

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2008-9 food security report, 1.1 million children were living in households where they and/or their siblings sometimes had a  skimpy meal or no meal at all because their parents couldn’t afford to buy enough food.

The Senate Agriculture Committee’s bill to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act seeks to reduce child hunger. It goes at this through various measures to expand access to subsidized meal programs.

For school meal programs, the bill would simplify the process that allows schools in high-poverty areas to offer free meals to all students. These areas, the Committee report says, enroll more than 5 million children–over 10% of the public school population. The current, burdensome process may deter some schools from claiming “community eligibility.” So low-income children may be left out because their parents don’t know free meals are available or are overwhelmed by the paperwork.

The bill would also make foster children automatically eligible for free meals and do a couple of things to promote “direct certification” for other low-income children. At this point, schools must certify free-meal eligibility for children whose parents receive food stamps. They may also directly certify children whose families participate in TANF or the program that distributes food on Indian reservations. The bill would provide bonuses to school districts that adopt these options.

It would also allow school districts to directly certify children covered by Medicaid, but only selectively. In the 2012-13 school year, USDA would designate districts representing 2.5% of children eligible for free or reduced-price meals. Additional districts would be added annually, at the same rate, up to a total of 10% of low-income children. The rationale for this cap is not explained.

The bill does more than increase access to in-school meals. It would allow eligible after-school programs in all states to receive reimbursements for a full meal, rather than only a snack. At this point, programs in only 13 states and the District of Columbia can get reimbursed for a full meal. The expansion would go a long way toward ensuring that low-income children get three well-balanced meals a day–at least, during days when school is in session.

So far as I can see, summer meals get short shrift. Participation in them is egregiously low, compared to participation in school lunch programs. Indeed, the Food Research and Action Center reports that only 17.3% of the children who ate free or reduced-price school lunches during the 2007-8 school year then participated in a summer meal program. And not all programs operated all summer long.

To expand access, the bill would require school food administrators to help nonprofits that operate summer meals programs with outreach to families. Period.

But, of course, changing the standards that now restrict reimbursements for summer meals to programs in high-poverty communities would increase the federal government’s costs. So would funding transportation in rural areas, where needy children may live far from summer meal sites.

And then, as with in-school meals, there’s the issue of reimbursement rates. Somewhat higher than rates for school breakfasts and lunches. But, as FRAC reports, a USDA survey found that 73% of sponsors expected to lose money operating their summer meal programs. This may partially explain why the number of meals served last August was substantially lower than the number served in June and July.

As I wrote last week, the Senate Agriculture Committee’s bill would provide $4.5 billion over 10 years for all the programs included in the Child Nutrition Act. The Committee Chair’s framework indicates that $1.2 billion of the total would be for “a path to end child hunger.” Not to eliminate it, as President Obama promised. But to take us down the road apiece.

Is this really the best we can do?

NOTE: I apparently skipped over a section of the bill. It would actually do more to expand access to summer meal programs than require school food administrators to help with outreach. It would also authorize $20 million in competitive grants for “activities that improve and encourage sponsor retention.” This translates into about $5 million a year for Fiscal Years 2011-15. This doesn’t alter my view that the bill fails to address the significant barriers to access.

Child Nutrition Act Reauthorization Moves Ahead

In early May, the Senate Agriculture Committee issued its report on the bill it had unanimously approved to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act. This put the bill on the Senate general calendar, ready for debate by the full Senate whenever Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid decides it’s time.

At this point, there’s no companion bill in the House. So the Senate bill is likely to become the basis for whatever Congress ultimately passes. That’s not a bad thing because there’s a lot to like in the bill. Also some things not to like.

On the positive side, Committee Chair Blanche Lincoln (D-NE) and her colleagues seem to have their minds around the top priorities. We see this in the bill title–The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act.

I’ll focus on the “healthy” part here and deal with the”hunger-free” part in a subsequent posting.

Basically, the bill aims to improve the nutrition quality of meals and snacks children get in school and in daycare and after-school programs. A couple of big initiatives here.

First, the bill would authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to establish standards for all foods and beverages sold on school campuses, including those in vending machines, snack bars and the a la carte lines that give kids an alternative to regular cafeteria meals.

So-called competitive foods are available at virtually all high schools and high percentages of middle and elementary schools too. At this point, they’re primarily high-fat/high-sugar options that appeal to kids. So they undermine whatever efforts schools are making to improve the nutritional value of the regular meals they serve. Who’s going to go to the cafeteria for broccoli and beans when they can buy a burger with a side of fries?

The bill would also require the Secretary to issue new school meal nutrition standards based on recommendations developed by the Institute of Medicine. These call for significant changes–more fruits, more vegetables (dark green and orange, with a limit on starchy), whole grains, 1% or fat-free milk and a maximum as well as a minimum number of calories.

As I’ve commented before, meals like these will certainly cost more than what schools can–and, in many cases, do–serve now. So the Agriculture Committee would give school districts that comply with the new regulations an additional 6 cents per lunch, with an annual adjustment for inflation.

Reality check. The current free lunch reimbursement rate is $2.70, up 2 cents from the 2008-9 school year. This rate is only for schools where 60% or more of the children are eligible for free or reduced-price meals.

The School Nutrition Association says that the 2008-9 average cost of preparing and serving a school lunch in compliance with current USDA nutrition standards was $2.92 cents and that costs have continued to rise since then. The Institute of Medicine estimated that its recommendations would increase food costs by 4% to 9%. Do the math.

The bill would also require child and adult care programs to serve meals based on the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans–the source for the IOM school meal recommendations. More cost increases here, I suspect. But no mention of a boost in reimbursement rates.

There’s more in the bill, even in just this category, e.g., an ongoing funding stream for school gardens, linkages to local food sources and other Farm to School activities, especially in schools with high proportions of low-income students.

But I’ll cut to the chase. What’s not to like is the funding. First, it’s too stingy to achieve its worthy objectives. Total funding would be $4.5 billion over 10 years–less than half of what President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2010 budget proposes. Hence, I suppose the measly 6 cents more for lunches.

Second, the bill would offset the new spending in part by gutting the SNAP/food stamp nutrition education program. If this isn’t robbing Peter to pay Paul, I don’t know what is. We want children to eat more healthfully–and to reduce the child obesity rate. So we cut support for efforts to help their parents choose a well-balanced selection of foods and encourage their kids to be active.

The Committee’s not allowed to grab funding outside its jurisdiction. So it’s possible that alternative and more generous funding will be found.

But concerns incorporated in the Committee report and outcries from farming and environmental interests suggest that more attention will be paid to another offset, which would level-fund EQIP (the Environmental Quality Incentives Program).