FROM THE LOGAN DAILY NEWS
Posted: Tuesday, April 9, 2013 12:00 am | Updated: 7:53 pm, Tue Apr 9, 2013.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Congressman Steve Stivers (R) has introduced the School Nutrition Flexibility Act, a bipartisan bill that gives local school administrators more flexibility to better support children and provide nutritious school meals. Stivers introduced the bill with Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (D).

“We cannot expect to properly educate our children if they are hungry at school,” Stivers said. “Our children are our future. As the father of two young children, I believe we must allow those who serve our schools meals the flexibility they need to continue their dedicated work. That is why the School Nutrition Flexibility Act is so important, because it strikes the perfect balance between allowing school meal providers more options, while also preserving our overall goal for better nutrition for our children.”

Endorsed by the School Nutrition Association, the School Nutrition Flexibility Act works to assist the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its efforts to develop school nutritional standards by permanently removing a protein and grain limit that the USDA has temporarily waived for two years.

The School Nutrition Flexibility Act also allows local school food authorities and local school boards to set the prices of school meals where the local programs are being well-managed and operating in the black.

Last year, the USDA issued a final rule for the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which placed new restrictions on school meals, in an attempt to further the goal of healthier school meals. Included in the USDA’s final rule was a strict protein and grain limit that, for example, holds school meals for eighth graders and kindergarteners to the same standard.

In the final rule, the federal government also set the price of a school lunch for the first time since 1946, which could misrepresent families and their abilities to afford certain price increases for school lunches.