More students eat lunch and breakfast at schools where number of 'food vulnerable' students qualifies all for free meals

Students eat breakfast (U.S. Department of Agriculture photo)

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

A program that offers free meals to all students using federal money has increased lunch and breakfast participation at many schools in Kentucky, but may come under renewed threat in Congress.

The Community Eligibility Program, part of the 2010 Hunger-Free Kids Act, allows schools with more than 40 percent of students qualifying as "food-vulnerable" to offer free meals to every student.

The latest schools to report that the program has more students eating breakfast and lunch are Glasgow High School and the Berea Independent Schools.

Glasgow has seen a 5 percent increase in lunch participation and a 13 percent increase in breakfast participation since December 2015, Jackson French reports for the Bowling Green Daily News.

Before the school joined the Community Eligibility Program, it would provide meals to any student who wanted them even if they couldn't pay on that day, but would place a charge for the meal on the student's account to be paid later.

Principal Keith Hale told French that the program reduces financial burdens on families who struggle to pay for food and also allows students to eat healthier, because healthier foods are often costlier.

This is also the first school year that the Berea schools have participated in the program, Ricki Barker reports for the Richmond Register.

“We are serving approximately 60 more breakfasts and 80 more lunches a day compared to last year,” Supt. Mike Hogg told board members at their January meeting. He added that the school is serving about 1,000 more additional meals to students than they have in the past.

“If you are hungry, then you are not at your optimal learning potential,” Hogg said. “With the program we can feed more students and we know that those students are fed and ready to learn each day.”

This program is one that could be altered in the new Congress by Republicans who have long had issues with the 2010 law, the centerpiece of Michelle Obama's eight years as first lady.

Kentucky Health News reported in May that House Republicans had introduced a bill to raise the program's qualifying threshold to 60 percent. The bill passed out of committee but died for lack of action.

According to the liberal-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the change could affect more than 350 Kentucky schools, because only 441 of the 804 schools currently eligible for the program would qualify under the 60 percent guideline.

About 60% of Ky. schools give all students free breakfast and lunch; federal program for those with mainly low-income students

photo: Kentucky Department of Education

During the 2014-15 school year, 104 of the 173 public school districts in Kentucky provided free breakfast and lunch to all students, with 610 schools and 279,263 children benefiting in the program, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture website.

They were able to do this through the Community Eligibility Provision program, which allows school districts with predominantly low-income children to serve all students free lunch and breakfast. Kentucky was one of the first three states chosen to participate in the pilot program in 2011-12, which is now available nationwide. CEP is part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.

"Schools implementing CEP have reported great success, citing eased administrative burden, more efficient meal service operations, and increased program participation," Angela Kline, director of USDA policy and program development, said in an online letter to the regional and state directors of the program. "Most importantly, students attending CEP schools can count on two nutritious meals every school day, helping low-income families to stretch limited food budgets while reducing hunger among our nation’s children."

This is the first year the East Bernstadt Independent school district in Laurel County has participated in the program. Marcella Hensley, the food service director, called the program a success and said they plan to apply for the program again next year, Mike Moore reports for The Sentinel-Echo in London.

The northern Laurel County district has 462 students in K-8, plus 55 preschool students, Moore reports. Since the program began at the start of the school year, Hensley told Moore that she has seen a 2-percent increase of breakfasts and lunches being served, adding that the cafeteria staff prepares 980 breakfasts and 2,064 lunches per week. She said this amounts to about 70 to 80 more students at lunch each day and 80 to 90 more students at breakfast, compared to previous years.

 “I feel that if a child eats a breakfast, they function better in class,” Hensley told Moore. “They’re more alert and ready for what they’ve got coming at them academically-wise. To me, breakfast is more important because they function better during the day. If we see their faces more at breakfast, I feel like they’re going to do better in class.”

School fundraisers that involve food must meet the new federal nutrition guidelines; state hasn't sought an exemption

Fundraising with foods that don't meet schools' new federal nutrition guidelines will not be allowed during the school day in Kentucky, Valarie Honeycutt Spears reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

One of the most popular fundraisers for schools is the sale of candy, which formerly could be sold after lunch.  Those days are over in Kentucky; the state has not requested an exemption to hold such fundraisers.

Fundraisers using foods like cookie dough and frozen pizza, which are meant to be eaten at home, have not been restricted and there are no fundraising restrictions on foods that meet the Smart Snacks standards, the Herald-Leader  reports.

Schools are adapting to these changes.  One in Lexington reports moving to fundraisers that focus on physical fitness rather than food, and Kona Ice, a firm that sells shaved ice, now offers products that meet and exceed the new standards for snacks, company spokesman Jamie Izaks told the newspaper.

Marty Flynn, executive director of the Kentucky School Nutrition Association, told the paper, "Regulations that stem from the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, although well-intentioned, have been enacted too quickly, and without attention to the availability of acceptable products, acceptance of students and the financial consequences to the self-sustaining school meal programs. Many food service directors have indicated that for the first time in many years their programs lost money and have been faced with declining participation."

Report: Two-thirds of Kentuckians obese by 2030 if trends continue; cost to nation's future unquestionably high

Nearly two-thirds of adults in Kentucky will be obese by 2030 if rates continue to climb as they are now, an analysis reported Tuesday. The level of obesity, defined as being roughly 30 or more pounds overweight, is projected to reach 60.1 percent in Kentucky in 2030, up from 30.4 percent in 2011, according to an analysis commissioned by the nonprofit Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Nancy Hellmich and Laura Ungar of The Courier-Journal in Louisville report that if states’ obesity rates continue on their current trajectories, the number of new cases of type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and stroke, hypertension, and arthritis could increase 10 times between 2010 and 2020, and double again by 2030. Medical costs associated with treating preventable obesity-related diseases could increase by up to $66 billion per year by 2030, and the loss in economic productivity could be as high as $580 billion annually. (Read more)

The joint report also shows that states could prevent obesity-related diseases and dramatically reduce health care costs if they reduced the average body mass index (BMI) of their residents by just 5 percent by 2030. Doing so would spare millions of Americans serious health problems, and the country could save billions of dollars in health spending. See the interactive map showing how much improvement could be made if that small change were made here.

The report also features a series of joint policy recommendations from TFAH and RWJF, including full implementation of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, protection of the federal health reform law's Prevention and Public Health Fund, and inclusion of additional physical education and activity components in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. To download the full report, go here.