New ‘school wellness’ rule requires policies, expands free school meal program
February 25, 2014 | 07:59 PM
First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today formally announced the release of a rule that will require schools participating in the national school meals programs to set up wellness policies and restrict marketing of snacks.
The rule also will allow schools in which 40 percent of children get free or reduced-price meals to offer free breakfast and lunch to all their students.
The rule, which will be published in the Federal Register, fulfills the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.
School should set goals for nutrition education and physical activity, inform parents about the wellness policy and its implementation, and periodically assess progress and share updates as appropriate, the White House said in a news release.
“The idea here is simple — our classrooms should be healthy places where kids aren’t bombarded with ads for junk food,” the first lady said in a news release. “Because when parents are working hard to teach their kids healthy habits at home, their work shouldn’t be undone by unhealthy messages at school.”
She also noted that she held a White House Summit on Food Marketing to Children last fall and called on the country to make sure the health of children was not undermined by the marketing of unhealthy food.
“The food marketing and local wellness standards proposed today support better health for our kids and echo the good work already taking place at home and in schools across the country,” Vilsack said. “The new standards ensure that schools remain a safe place where kids can learn and where the school environment promotes healthy choices.”
The secretary added that the new rules would not affect “extracurricular and outside the school day” activities. USDA also updated its website on the school meal rules.
The first lady and Vilsack also announced that beginning July 1, more than 22,000 schools in which 40 percent of students are eligible for free lunches will be eligible to serve healthy free lunches and breakfasts to all students. This will reach as many as 9 million children, USDA said in the news release.
The decision to implement what is known as “community eligibility” nationwide follows a successful pilot project. USDA noted that research has shown that children who eat breakfast in the classroom perform more than 17 percent better on math tests and have fewer disciplinary problems.
Zoë Neuberger, a senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said in an email that under community eligibility rules “schools can participate for individual schools, a group of schools, or the whole district.”
“To qualify, 40 percent of the students in a school or group of schools must be automatically eligible for free school meals without completing an application. Such children are identified as low-income by another means-tested program — the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Aid to Needy Families of the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations — or they fall into an especially vulnerable category and have been identified by an appropriate official as homeless, migrant, in foster care, or in Head Start.”
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Food Research and Action Center last October published a guide to community eligibility.
The rule also will allow schools in which 40 percent of children get free or reduced-price meals to offer free breakfast and lunch to all their students.
The rule, which will be published in the Federal Register, fulfills the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.
School should set goals for nutrition education and physical activity, inform parents about the wellness policy and its implementation, and periodically assess progress and share updates as appropriate, the White House said in a news release.
“The idea here is simple — our classrooms should be healthy places where kids aren’t bombarded with ads for junk food,” the first lady said in a news release. “Because when parents are working hard to teach their kids healthy habits at home, their work shouldn’t be undone by unhealthy messages at school.”
She also noted that she held a White House Summit on Food Marketing to Children last fall and called on the country to make sure the health of children was not undermined by the marketing of unhealthy food.
“The food marketing and local wellness standards proposed today support better health for our kids and echo the good work already taking place at home and in schools across the country,” Vilsack said. “The new standards ensure that schools remain a safe place where kids can learn and where the school environment promotes healthy choices.”
The secretary added that the new rules would not affect “extracurricular and outside the school day” activities. USDA also updated its website on the school meal rules.
The first lady and Vilsack also announced that beginning July 1, more than 22,000 schools in which 40 percent of students are eligible for free lunches will be eligible to serve healthy free lunches and breakfasts to all students. This will reach as many as 9 million children, USDA said in the news release.
The decision to implement what is known as “community eligibility” nationwide follows a successful pilot project. USDA noted that research has shown that children who eat breakfast in the classroom perform more than 17 percent better on math tests and have fewer disciplinary problems.
Zoë Neuberger, a senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said in an email that under community eligibility rules “schools can participate for individual schools, a group of schools, or the whole district.”
“To qualify, 40 percent of the students in a school or group of schools must be automatically eligible for free school meals without completing an application. Such children are identified as low-income by another means-tested program — the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Aid to Needy Families of the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations — or they fall into an especially vulnerable category and have been identified by an appropriate official as homeless, migrant, in foster care, or in Head Start.”
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Food Research and Action Center last October published a guide to community eligibility.
- USDA Food and Nutrition Service — School Meals: Child Nutrition Programs
- Center on Budget and Policy Priorities — Community Eligibility: Making High-Poverty School Hunger Free
