ACTE recently provided comments to the House Education and the Workforce Committee and the Senate Agriculture Committee on the reauthorization of federal child nutrition programs. As we have previously reported, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 authorized the federal government to issue new nutritional standards for schools nationwide. In addition to creating enhanced requirements for reimbursable meals sold in school cafeterias, the law also established the first-ever national nutritional standard for “competitive foods” sold in schools, which went into effect in the 2014-15 school year. These regulations not only impact foods sold in vending machines, a la carte lines and school stores, but also CTE programs that operate school-based enterprises, such as student-run cafés, bakeries and restaurants.
In June, the House Education and the Workforce Committee held hearings on a range of topics being considered in this reauthorization, including regulatory compliance issues, additional administrative burdens and costs for school districts associated with the new rules, and concerns about food waste. With certain provisions in the law expiring on September 30, it was expected that both chambers would work to pass a bill this fall. The Senate Agriculture Committee had planned to unveil its reauthorization bill for a committee markup in September, but that bill has not yet been released and the markup has been indefinitely postponed. Despite the inaction, the committee’s chairman remains optimistic about producing a bill with bipartisan support. “I am continuing negotiations with Ranking Member [Debbie] Stabenow to get a bipartisan, budget-neutral agreement to move forward with child nutrition reauthorization,” said Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS). However, his counterparts in the House have also been unable to move a reauthorization proposal forward. No draft legislation has been publicly released by the Education and the Workforce Committee, and they have no plans to hold further hearings on the subject. For now, reauthorization efforts on Capitol Hill remain at a standstill.
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