Assembly Approves Healthy Schools Act

Would Improve Nutritional Standards,
Promote Better Food Choices Among Students,
Provide Free School Meals For 254,000 Students,
Earmark $40 Million In State Funds To Boost School Meal Reimbursements

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Education Committee Chair Catherine Nolan today announced Assembly passage of the Healthy Schools Act, a comprehensive and balanced legislative initiative designed to protect the long-term nutritional health of students.

"Too many of our young people are frequently eating many foods that have marginal nutritional value," said Silver. "This initiative will set much needed nutritional standards in our schools. It will promote healthy eating habits throughout the formative years of our school children, ones that will benefit them throughout their lives."

"As parents and legislators, the time has come to address the impact poor nutrition has on the classroom. I am concerned that students do not always have access to nutritious foods. This bill not only provides nutritional standards but also assists schools in meeting these standards by increasing the state reimbursement for school meals. Students will have a greater opportunity to make healthy food choices that will influence their academic performance, classroom behavior and attendance rates," said Nolan.

The Healthy Schools Act (A.8698, Nolan) would require the State Department of Education in consultation with the Department of Health, to establish nutritional and dietary standards for school meals as well as snacks and beverages sold by those public schools, charter schools, boards of cooperative educational services and private schools that participate in the federal school lunch program. The new standards would promote a healthful diet and reflect the nutritional needs of students, according to their age and grade level.

The measure would require that school districts that participate in the federal school lunch program to implement a breakfast program in their middle and high schools. To minimize the costs, the state will provide $40 million to fund additional reimbursements to localities, providing a 15 cent increase for every free meal a school district serves. This will allow 35 million free meals to be served to 254,000 students across the state who currently receive meals at a reduced price.

The Healthy Schools Act also would:

• require snacks and beverages that are available in schools to meet the new nutritional dietary standards with an emphasis on unsweetened fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, nut butter and seeds. Beverages would be restricted to water, milk and 100 percent fruit and vegetable juice. School meals would be required to be trans-fat free;
• mandate that food products sold by school vending machines and stores subscribe to the act's healthy food requirements;
• require school districts to establish "School Wellness Policies" that would recommend minimum eating time periods, an additional nutritional education curriculum, opportunities to increase physical activity and the purchase of fresh and or organic fruits and vegetables and dairy products produced by local or regional farms; and
• mandate the state commissioner of the Department of Health to initiate a media campaign that promotes the positive connection between child health, physical activity and academic performance.

In addition, the Assembly approved a bill (A.8699) that would allow students to discretely access free healthy meals without feeling self-conscious about their participation in the program. The bill would implement an electronic payment system or other approach that avoids identifying a student as receiving a free meal.