School niutritionists are lobbying Congress to stop the switch to block grants.

[Ilsa]

https://schoolnutrition.org/legislation-policy/action-center/2017-position-paper/

School nutritionists have posted their 2017 position paper in hopes to "bolster historically under-funded school meal programs that are struggling to manage increased food and operating costs. While school meals should continue to meet robust federal nutrition standards, requirements must be streamlined to ease regulatory burdens and preserve the financial sustainability of school meal programs."

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Oppose any effort to block grant school meal programs. Block grants will cut funds and eliminate federal nutrition standards for school meals. Block grant funding caps will prevent schools from serving additional at-risk students when local economic downturns or rising enrollments increase the number of children eligible for free or reduced price meals. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) warned that block grants could “eliminate access to nutrition programs for some children and reduce it for others.”

Support schools, US farmers and students in the next Farm Bill by providing 6 cents in USDA Foods for every school breakfast served. Currently, commodity support is only provided for school lunch. Expanding USDA Foods to support the School Breakfast Program will allow more students to benefit from a nutritious school breakfast, help schools cover rising costs and advance USDA’s mission of supporting America’s farmers.

Provide schools practical flexibility under federal nutrition standards to prepare healthy, appealing meals. Overly prescriptive regulations have resulted in unintended consequences, including reduced student lunch participation, higher costs and food waste. Federal nutrition standards should be modified to help school menu planners manage these challenges and prepare nutritious meals that appeal to diverse student tastes.
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Some school nutrition directors are taking their case to Washington.