Community voice
by Brittany Koch, MPH While kids prepare to transition from sitting in a classroom to spending their days at a friend’s house, school will stay on the minds of some teachers, school administrators, child advocates, and policymakers this summer. Specifically, the free school meals that over 3 million children rely on—and might lose—will be on their minds. This includes almost 200,000 children right here in our tri-state area. Why are these free school meals so important? Do kids really need them? While many children in the U.S. come from families who are food secure, others live in households where they are unsure from day to day where their next nutritious meal will come from. This is food insecurity, or the lack of access to enough food for an active and healthy life -- and it has severe consequences for the health and development of young kids. Some quick facts on food insecurity:
So, back to school meals. Absolutely yes, children need these school meals. For all too many children, that school breakfast or lunch might be the only meal of the day they’re guaranteed. Our federal nutrition programs, including school meals, have the potential to mitigate food insecurity’s harmful effects on kids. Not only do they improve the health of children, but programs like our School Breakfast Program have been shown to improve academic performance and behavior, too. Summer is just beginning, but that also means the 2016-2017 school year is just a few months away. Currently, Congress has not passed the Child Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR) that expired on September 30, 2015. The CNR funds the bulk of our federal nutrition assistance programs including school meals. Two months ago, the House proposed a version of the CNR (H.R. 5003, titled “Improving Child Nutrition and Education Act of 2016”), that has been opposed by advocates nationwide, and for good reason. The 2010 CNR (Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act), introduced the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a crucial measure that essentially allows high-poverty schools, with at least 40% of students at increased risk for food insecurity, to provide school meals free of charge to all students. The CNR bill proposed in April recommends increasing the “community eligibility” threshold from 40 to 60%—meaning fewer schools would be able to provide free meals to vulnerable students through CEP. If the proposed CNR becomes law, over 7,000 schools currently using CEP could no longer be eligible. If it becomes law, 3.4 million children in some of our most impoverished communities would lose those school breakfasts and lunches that are so important to their development and future potential. Community eligibility provision has barely gotten its feet wet. Many schools (11,647 to be exact) could qualify for CEP but just haven’t implemented it yet. The House bill’s proposal to weaken the CEP is not the only harmful provision. The House bill would also increase administrative burden for schools, ignore identified gaps in summer feeding programs, hinder outreach efforts of schools, negatively impact WIC, and more. Our country needs sound nutrition policy. Our children need sound nutrition policy. Yes, our legislators need to know the significance of a sound CNR, but they also need to know that the House CNR bill is not the one we need. What can public health advocates do?
The next time you see a news story about kids enjoying the summer weather at their community pool or rec center, think ahead to September. How many of those kids will lose access to the free school meals they need to grow and learn if this CNR is passed? Let Congress know now that you support legislation that helps our most vulnerable children—not harms them. |
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March 2017
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