School Meals Programs Struggle to Feed Our Children
eachers and education administrators sounded the alarms. The spouses and partners of 18 state governors issued pleas. Leadership on both sides of the political aisle brought pressure, some of it decidedly unsubtle. In the end, they combined to strong-arm the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) into extending programs that help get food to the children of poor families in the midst of a pandemic.
What now? Well, sure: another dogfight to try to keep those programs going for the duration of the school year.
For months, the Centers for Disease Control has seen its credibility compromised and eroded by repeated political interference. Now the USDA is in the middle of a bizarre struggle in which nutrition plans for hungry kids – plans largely devoid of controversy – are repeatedly threatened with shuttering.
The programs aren’t perfect, but in places like Las Angeles the effect is still staggering. As of Sept. 21, the L.A. Unified School District, the nation’s second largest, had handed out nearly 62 million meals.
The most recent close call came last month, when Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue claimed he had no authority to extend past Aug. 31 a suite of waivers that allowed school districts to give food to kids – regardless of their ability to pay – through the Summer Food Service Program and the Seamless Summer Option. What it meant was that, starting in September, many of the estimated 30 million children who eat school food would have to revert to a system under which they applied to be considered for free or reduced-price meals, or paid full price.
Under heavy fire, Perdue reversed his position. On the final day before the waivers were to end, the USDA announced that it would continue the waivers through the end of 2020. Said Perdue, “As our nation reopens and people return to work, it remains critical our children continue to receive safe, healthy and nutritious food.”
Apart from the fact that the Trump administration has tried to roll back Obama-era strengthening of nutrition CONTINUE READING: School Meals Programs Struggle to Feed Our Children - LA Progressive