Why School Lunch Reform Must Pass This Week

UPDATE 12/02/10: The House voted in favor of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, ushering in school lunch reform. The move came after more than 15,000 Change.org members signed a petition supporting the Child Nutrition Act and more than 1,000 members urged Congress to reform school lunch without cutting future funds to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), aka food stamps.  While the bill still includes SNAP cuts, President Obama and Congressional leaders have promised to fix these reductions. Read the full story here.

Hot dogs and chicken patties and greasy pizza — oh my! Those are the entrees most kids currently get in their school cafeterias. If school lunch reform legislation doesn't pass this week, those meals are unlikely to get any better in the future.

The Child Nutrition Act, legislation that would improve both the quality and accessibility of school lunches, has been kicking around in Congress for months on end. While the Senate passed its version of the school lunch reform bill — the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act — back in August, the House has yet to vote on the bill. That will change this Wednesday, December 1st, as representatives will finally weigh in on the legislation.

The House can do a number of things with the pending legislation. For one, it could neg the bill entirely, meaning kids wouldn't see any increased funding for school lunches. The House could also delay the bill through a motion to commit, which would essentially kill the legislation for the rest of the year. With Republican lawmakers taking control of the House of Representatives this January, it's unlikely that increased funding for school lunches will get enough support from Congress next year. Unless the House votes in favor of the Child Nutrition Act this week and sends it to President Obama's desk for approval, this may be the last chance in the foreseeable future for federal school lunch reform.

If the House does indeed give the Child Nutrition bill the thumbs-up, it would usher in a number of changes to school lunches. The bill provides $4.5 billion over the next 10 years to child nutrition programs, namely the federal school lunch program. The extra dough promises to expand the number of students enrolled in free and reduced-cost school meal programs and improve entrees' nutritional quality. It would also raise the federal reimbursement rate for school lunches by six cents per meal, the first time Congress will have increased the rate since 1973. The Child Nutrition Act also aims to expand farm-to-school initiatives.

While it's pretty obvious that school lunch is in desperate need of reform ("bagel dogs" are a regularly appearing entree in some lunch lines), the Senate's iteration of the bill aims to pay for the improvements by slashing future food stamp benefits, a move that unfairly robs Peter to feed Paul. It's a funding measure that understandably has many folks on the fence about the Child Nutrition Act.

You can help push forward school lunch reform by signing the Environmental Working Group's petition asking the House to vote in favor of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. You can also ask lawmakers to fund school lunch programs without cutting future food stamp benefits by signing the Food Research and Action Center's petition here.

Photo credit: bookgrl via Flickr