LI school food chiefs eager for more federal aid

Six cents might sound meager. But local school food directors say a few more pennies would be a boon that would go a long way toward serving healthier fare.

"I'll take anything they can give," said Kevin Hannon, the Long Beach district's school food director.

The Child Nutrition Act, a massive piece of legislation that affects the way more than 30 million schoolchildren eat in cafeterias across the country, is set to expire this week. If Congress reauthorizes it, school food programs will get $4.5 billion more over the next decade. For New York schools, that would mean $17.5 million a year.

That amounts to 6 cents more per meal, on top of the $2.72 federal reimbursement for a fully subsidized meal this school year.

"It may not seem like a lot," said Nancy Huehnergarth, director of the New York State Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Alliance. "But it's big news."

Would be first rise since '73

If the House approves the funding the Senate passed last month and it is signed into law in the coming days, it will be the first time since 1973 that schools see an increase in government meal reimbursements beyond an annual inflation bump.

"If Congress doesn't pass it, kids will really lose out on hundreds of millions of dollars for healthier food in school," said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest. "If they don't approve it, they'd have to start over."

Linda R. Leonardi, Copiague schools food service director, said the extra money could help buy more fresh fruit and vegetables, which are expensive items.

While grateful for any extra funds, those who run local cafeterias say they need much more. School food programs are expected to be self-sustaining and financially independent from district budgets, a burden directors say makes serving healthier meals difficult.

"It's something, but it's not anywhere close to what we need," said Adrianne Goldenbaum, West Babylon's school food director. She calculated the extra reimbursement would mean $22,800 for her district, out of her $1.8-million budget.

Applies to all meals

But Goldenbaum would be happy to have it, especially because the extra reimbursement would be for all meals sold, even those for which students pay full or reduced prices. "It's a wonderful thing, don't get me wrong," she said. "It's just not enough."

Goldenbaum said the $22,800 would probably go toward labor expenses. "Because labor is the big issue," she said. "It goes up all the time." Labor - almost 60 percent of her budget - is key to serving kids healthier meals that are made from scratch.

In Long Beach, the extra reimbursement would go toward offsetting the subsidy the district provides to the school food program - $250,000 this school year, said Michael DeVito, Long Beach's chief operating officer. Long Beach is one of the few districts that subsidizes its cafeteria meals.

"It'll just allow us to reduce that subsidy," DeVito said, "and have programs run closer to being self-funded."

Another key provision in the legislation would set Department of Agriculture standards for food served beyond the standard meal - including items sold in vending machines and snack lines. "Just that piece alone is historic," Wootan said. There are now no federal standards for those so-called "competitive foods" that school food directors complain compete with the balanced meals they serve.

The Child Nutrition Act is reauthorized every five years. It expired last year, but a yearlong extension was passed.

In Wootan's 20 years in the field, she said, "this is the strongest nutrition bill I've ever seen."