Managers

For less than $4.70 per meal, school nutrition programs must stretch funding to cover not only food, but also labor, equipment, utilities, training, and essential services. School meals are not just food—they represent a comprehensive system that supports student health and learning.

While school nutrition programs are making significant strides in offering healthier meals, they are severely constrained by insufficient funding, which limits their ability to expand scratch cooking, provide more fresh, local produce, and meet increasing financial pressures from rising food, labor, and equipment costs.

Despite the progress in increasing whole foods and reducing ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in school meals, the expansion of scratch cooking and the adoption of new federal nutrition standards face significant barriers, such as inadequate funding, staffing, equipment, and time for proper implementation.

However, efforts to protect and expand access to healthy school meals for all students face significant challenges due to potential changes in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid under HR 1, which could undermine the federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) and reduce the number of students automatically certified for free and reduced-price meals.