Safeguarding Our Children's Safety Net

The Child Nutrition Programs perform an essential role in the nutrition, health and education of New York State's children. They help to ensure that our children are prepared to listen, learn and participate in the ever-increasing challenges of the classroom. This foundation is critical to our diverse population and serves to equalize the educational opportunities for the 63 percent of our children who qualify for free and reduced price meals.

While there is increasing pressure to address fiscal issues through both the budget process and reconciliation, it is critical that the structure and funding for the safety net for our children not be destroyed. Any cuts would threaten the ability of these programs to meet the needs of this vulnerable population and would impact on our nation's future. One of the reasons for the establishment of the National School Lunch Program was as a measure of national security, which has once again become a national focus. The National School Lunch Act was passed in 1946 because nearly one-third of the young men turned down for military service were rejected due to nutritional deficiencies. Additionally, research has shown a clear connection between proper nutrition and a child's capacity to learn. Keeping the present structure in place is critical to ensuring the success of the No Child Left Behind statute. Furthermore, we recommend:

1.     Expanding the original Lugar Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) pilot so all states can participate. The successful pilot has been expanded from the original 14 states to the present 20 and is now called the Simplified Summer Food Program. The original pilot project states were chosen because they had fewer children participating. New York State administers the largest SFSP in the country and its sponsors and the State agency would benefit from the reduced regulatory burden the Luger program provides.

2.     Ensuring that efforts to improve the integrity and accuracy of program eligibility determinations do not deter eligible families from applying for benefits. Alternative flexible options are needed for cities with large numbers of transient and immigrant students that are unrealistically expected to approve and track each student's eligibility. Schools should be more appropriately focusing their efforts on assisting students to be successful in the classroom, rather than on burdensome policies as required by regulations that create expectations that are impossible for them to successfully achieve.

3.     Ensuring that laws and regulations designed to address the problem of overweight children provide nutrition education that includes making healthy eating choices, moderation, variety and increased physical activity instead of provisions that make children feel guilty or severely limit their food choices.

Fully funding our child nutrition programs is a critical investment in our nation's greatest resource - our children!

For further information contact Fran O'Donnell, Coordinator at 518-473-8781 or fodonnel@mail.nysed.gov