Schools Still Need Flexibility to Ensure Children Don't Go Hungry

In March 2020, soon after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), with the support of Congress, moved quickly to provide regulatory flexibility to schools in how they served meals to needy children. That added flexibility, in the form of waivers to requirements under the federal National School Lunch Program (NSLP), has been critical to ensuring schools can navigate virtual learning, social distancing, supply chain shortages, and other challenges brought on by the pandemic.

While these waivers were extended through the 2021-2022 school year, they are now set to expire at the end of June. With schools still reeling from pandemic impacts, this is too soon and could potentially put tens of thousands of children at risk of going hungry next year. Congress should move to grant USDA the authority to extend the waivers through the 2022-2023 school year.

Since its establishment in 1946, the NSLP has played a vital role in reducing hunger in the United States by reimbursing schools for providing needy children with free or reduced-price meals. The program now supports nearly 100,000 K-12 schools and serves close to 30 million children each year. For many of these children, the meals provided at school may be the only healthy, regular meals they receive each day.

Under the NSLP, there are strict regulations around dietary guidelines and where and how food is provided. Schools are required to carefully track distribution to ensure only eligible children receive meals. These requirements are well-intentioned and important to maintain program integrity, but quickly became too difficult for many schools to comply with during the pandemic.

Recognizing this, Congress and the USDA gave schools much needed flexibility, including allowing for no-contact, payless, curbside food distribution during periods of virtual learning; extending mealtime windows to permit greater social distancing; and approving alternative packaging and meal components when supply chain issues have limited access to products.

While the pandemic is currently getting under better control throughout the country, many schools are still not operating normally. Lunchrooms are understaffed, schedules are scrambled, and supply chain shortages continue to be an issue. For example, in Benton, AR, where Aramark provides food services, the school district has had to find substitutions for 25 percent of its products over the last year due to ongoing supply chain shortages.

At the same time, schools must be ready to shift back to virtual learning at a moment’s notice as the threat of possible future COVID variants is very real. Despite the improving picture, what schools need right now is more time before shifting back to the more stringent requirements of the NSLP.

Critics argue that the waivers could lead to abuse of the program, with some children receiving free or reduced-price meals for which they do not qualify. From my experience at Aramark, I can say that is not happening. Even with the waivers in place, in the 400 K-12 school districts we serve across the country, we are currently only serving 31 percent of eligible students at breakfast and about 61 percent at lunch, and we know that many children are still not getting the nutrition assistance for which they are qualified. We see absolutely no evidence that more affluent children are abusing the program. Our data shows that the students benefitting from the program are the students most in need.

Thankfully, there is a legislative solution already on the table. Last month, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House of Representatives introduced the Keeping School Meals Flexible Act, which would extend the NSLP waivers through the end of the 2022-2023 school year. That legislation, which can easily be included in omnibus legislation now moving through Congress, is exactly what our schools need. Allowing another year of these important waivers would give USDA and schools the necessary time to transition back to a post-pandemic normal the following school year. As we commemorate National Nutrition Month this March, let’s extend these waivers and help ensure our children don’t go hungry.

Barbara Flanagan is President and CEO of Aramark’s K-12 Education division.