U.S. Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA) is requesting signatures from members of the House of Representatives on a letter to the leadership of the Agriculture Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee regarding school nutrition staffing.
The letter makes a case for addressing staffing shortages by citing SNA’s 2024 Trends Report, which found that 90% of school meal programs struggle with staffing issues.
The letter also calls for additional funding in the FY25 Agriculture Appropriations bill to support school nutrition programs nationwide:
- $1.1 million for a pilot program to design a Healthy School Food Pathway school food workforce development. The programs will prepare individuals for job opportunities in healthy, scratch-cook school food programs.
- $5 million for the Institute for Child Nutrition for a pilot program to support menu development and chef training programs that will expand access to nutritious, scratch-cooked school meals for students.
- $3 million for evaluations of both pilot programs: $1 million to evaluate the Healthy School Food Pathway and $2 million for the Chefs in the Schools pilot.
SNA members are encouraged to write use the SNA Action Network to their leaders in the House of Representatives and urge them to sign the Dear Colleague letter.
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