USDA to Provide Additional Funds for Nation’s School Meals

Washington, DC, April 27, 2012 – Agriculture Under Secretary Kevin Concannon today announced increased support for schools across the Nation as they implement healthier and more nutritious school meal standards for America’s kids. Schools will be reimbursed an additional 6 cents for each lunch they serve in accordance with the new standards– the first increase beyond inflation in over 30 years.

“Hungry and undernourished children simply can’t be the students they were intended to be,” said Concannon. “The ambitious new meal standards, especially those for school lunch, will provide millions of healthy meals each and every day and that is why USDA is providing these important additional financial resources to help schools raise the bar for our kids.”

The increased reimbursement, a significant investment in improving the quality of school meals, will be provided to school districts once they have made any changes needed to their menus to meet the new standards announced by USDA on Jan. 25, 2012. Funding will begin flowing to schools across the country this year.

School meal programs are a partnership between USDA, State agencies and local schools, and the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 recognized that ensuring adequate resources for schools was essential to make meal improvements a reality in schools across the nation. The Act includes five major components that work together to give schools and communities new tools to meet the challenge of providing healthier meals:

• Updated nutrition standards for school lunches and breakfasts, based on expert recommendations from the Institute of Medicine;
• Increased funding for schools – the first real increase in 30 years – tied to strong performance in serving improved meals;
• Common-sense standards for the revenue provided to school food authorities from non-Federal sources, to ensure that these revenues keep pace with the Federal commitment to healthy school meals and properly align with costs;
• Science-based standards for all foods sold in school, the first ever, national standards to ensure that foods and beverages sold in vending machines and other venues on school campuses also contribute to a healthy diet; and
• Training and technical assistance to help schools achieve and monitor compliance.

Reducing childhood obesity and improving the nutrition of all Americans are vital to achieve a healthy future for America. That’s why the Obama administration and USDA are committed to promoting healthy eating and active lifestyles and to ensuring that all Americans have access to safe, nutritious, and balanced meals. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, championed by First Lady Michelle Obama as part of her Let’s Move! initiative and signed by President Barack Obama, marked a great win for the nearly 32 million school children who participate in the National School Lunch and approximately 13 million school children who participate in the School Breakfast programs each school day. USDA is working to implement historic reforms mandated by the act that will mark the most comprehensive change to food in schools in more than a generation. These reforms include updated nutrition standards for school meals to increase fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy; science-based standards for all foods and beverages sold on the school campus; performance-based funding increases for schools – the first real increase in 30 years; and training and technical assistance to help schools meet improved standards.

USDA will work with schools and communities to help improve meals so they are consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Improving the health and nutrition of children by providing nutritious meals in school, based on the latest science, is a top priority for the Obama Administration. The NSLP Compliance rule is an important component of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative to solve the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation, and for the first time in 15 years, we are making critical investments that will upgrade the standards for school meals.