Bill Seeks Changes for School Lunch Program
Tracy Bennigsdorf, kitchen manager for Centennial Middle School in Montrose, Colo., prepares a salad bar before lunch. Under a bill proposed in the U.S. House of Representatives last month, all children attending schools located in high-poverty areas could qualify for free school lunches without having to submit paper applications.
—Joel Blocker/Montrose Daily Press/AP-File
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More children would be enrolled in the federal free school lunch program and schools would be reimbursed a higher amount for those lunches under bipartisan legislation introduced last month in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act of 2010would allow schools in high-poverty areas a new option called “community eligibility,” which permits free meals to all students without collecting paper applications.
The bill would, for the first time, establish mandatory national nutrition standards for foods sold outside of the cafeteria, such as in vending machines, and would expand direct certification for school meals for foster children and children who are eligible for Medicaid. The bill also provides $10 million for expansion of and grants for the School Breakfast Program.
The federal reimbursement rate is currently $2.68 per meal for free lunches, and is adjusted each year for inflation. The bill proposes increasing the reimbursement rate by 6