Why+is+funding+for+healthy+lunch+hard+to+get?

By: Katie Pelloni

(1.)Wharton, C., Long, M., & Schwartz, M. (2008). Changing Nutrition Standards in Schools: The Emerging Impact on School Revenue. Journal of School Health, (78), 245-251.

This article was found in the CQ Researcher Online Database, it explores the increasing the quality of school lunches and the effect it has on school revenue. The article discusses the need for students to be taught appropriate nutrition principles in order for them to make healthy choices for lunch. As easy as that may seem, officials have run into multiple issues when trying to make lunch options more appealing and affordable to both the student and the school. Districts fear that even though they make the efforts to offer healthier food that students will not choose to eat it if given the option of something less healthy. This also creates an issue of waste, waste of food and money that the school is providing for the healthier food. There were several studies mentioned in this article that reported on food items students are most likely to choose for lunch. The results were all similar in that most students head toward the junk food versus the healthier food. After reviewing schools lunch revenue, a drastic decline in lunch sales has been detected in several states. This proves to be discouraging for many schools to want to promote a healthier lifestyle for students. These states are being mandated to promote healthy eating habits for their students, but they are not gaining any positive revenue in exchange for all their hard work.

This article was helpful towards my topic because it showed a negative effect of trying to promote healthy eating and how it affects schools revenue. Having a schools revenue decline, in turn affects that particular schools budget. As it is, many school struggle with the budgets they are given and having to spend money on educating students on healthy eating habits, and not having the students follow through, and purchase the healthier food provided does not help the schools revenue. The research shown in this article helped me to investigate the relationship between students eating habits and the revenue schools are making on healthy food versus junk food.

(2.)Jacobs, W.E., (2011). Counterpoint: The Government Should Not Tell Students What They are Allowed to Eat and Drink. Points of View: Junk Food in Schools, Points of View Reference Center.

After reading through this article, I have a better understanding of why the government has become so involved in controlling the food that is sold to students in school. The increase in childhood obesity has become more of a problem than ever before. Not only is the concern for their weight in general, but there are also major health risks such as diabetes and heart disease. The lack of exercise in a student’s everyday activities is also part of the issue, in that they blame technology for keeping students inside instead of playing outside and exercising. The main concern in the school setting of how to reduce childhood obesity is to either provide or not provide vending machines in schools. Although the logic behind having vending machines in schools seems legitimate for after school activities, the items that are for sale in the machines should still be somewhat healthy. The article mentions that taking vending machines out of schools is really only fixing a minute part of the whole problem, however to some this seems like a plausible fix for the problem.

I feel like I have a deeper understanding of different methods the government is trying in order to control the amount of junk food students are consuming while in school. To some banning vending machines might seem like the best and easiest way of fixing the problem, however like the article mentions it is only fixing a small part of a big problem. This article was helpful towards my research because it explained other ways that the government is trying to control healthy eating, besides the hot lunch options being sold in schools. The only thing this article did not mention that could have been helpful to research would have been if they mentioned the financial impact that the school would encounter when the funding from vending machines is taken away. This would have provided a deeper explanation of why the government and school systems are having trouble both ethically and financially when controlling food consumption in schools.

(3.) Bass, David, Stanford University (2010). Fraud in the Lunchroom?. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.educationnext.org. [Last Accessed 20 November 2012]

This article focused mainly on how states and schools receive funding for healthier food for students by qualifying for government funded programs such as the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). The NSLP’s goal is to help parents that may be considered low income to provide healthier food for their students. This program requires parents to fill out the appropriate paperwork, proving their low income status in order for that district to receive the government funding. Researchers have found that many parents are not completing this necessary paperwork, which is creating a gap in the budget. This gap is being filled mostly by the taxpayers in that particular school district which creating other in-state issues. Many alternate incentives were mentioned in addition to the funding from NSLP such as gift cards being offered for parents to turn in the appropriate paperwork. It seems that in spite of all the hard work the state is doing to provide students with a higher budget for healthier food, the fate of their hard work lies in the hands of the students’ parents.

I found this article very helpful towards my research topic; I think that in this example it is interesting to see that the school systems are trying to do everything they can in order to provide for their children; however it is the children’s parents that are making it so the school is not receiving proper funding. It is already difficult for the school districts to provide a higher budget for lunch programs, but the fact that parents are not complying with the regulations set forth by the government is hard to understand.

(4.) Schacter, R. (2010, October). The Price of a Good Education. District Administration Magazine.

This article discusses the different state-by-state per pupil expenditures in various school systems. After conducting surveys in schools all over the country, they came to the conclusion that the average exoenditure per pupil is $10259, which ranged from 17173 in New York and only $5765 in Utah. This raised questions because people are wondering how Utah is running on only $5765 per student while New York has more than three times that amount and is still requesting funding. Superintendents from New York claim that they still need help with funding despite their higher budget because their cost of living is much higher. The article compares the spending habits of New York to Utah, in that New York pays top dollar for school faculty, while Utah eliminates some “high title” positions in order to stay under budget. It seems that it would obviously too drastic to completely switch the way New York school systems operate in order to make them operate more like the schools in Utah do, but it wouldn’t hurt to try and integrate some of their ideas into the New York school systems.

This article was very helpful towards my research, the comparison between school systems in New York and Utah helped me to understand why some school districts can operate on a much lower budget than other schools. Living in New England, I can understand why New York would say that their per pupil expenditure would be higher because of cost of living, however I think that they really could learn from Utah and their ways of savings money. It seems that the methods Utah uses in order to save money in other unnecessary areas, such as eliminating unneeded top ranking administration, could really help New York to save some money as well. I understand that having highly qualified school administration is important in order to make sure the school is being run properly, but only at a certain price.

(5.) Sheldon M., Gans K. M., Tai R., George T., Lawson E., & Pearlman D. N. (2010). Availability, Affordability, and Accessibility of a Healthful Diet in a Low-Income Community, Central Falls, Rhode Island, 2007-2008. Preventing Chronic Disease.

This article focused on the dietary habits of people living in low income towns, such as Central Falls Rhode Island. This neighborhood is very small, made up of mostly Hispanics, and does not have a local grocery store. Because they do not have a local grocery store this makes it very inconvenient for families to eat a well-rounded diet. Most of the population in Central Falls relies on public transportation, which does not allow for easy access to grocery stores outside of town. These factors all lead to unhealthy eating habits of most of the population in Central Falls, having access to necessary food is very difficult which leads them to eat whatever is around and affordable, such as fast food. According to studies, 40% of children living in this town are living in poverty which increase the risk of childhood obesity. This article mentions a survey of the “market basket”, this term means that they surveyed food readily available to the residents, and then compared it to the food on the list of dietary recommendations. Because there is not a local grocery store in Central Falls, this leads residents to go to the next town over, Pawtucket, to shop. Although this may not seem like a big deal, each grocery store is stocked with the amount of food they need to feed their particular neighborhood, not necessarily including those living in Central Falls. This leaves minimal options even when residents from Central Falls make it to the grocery store. In addition to the lack of resources in Central Falls, the studies found that the groceries residents are purchasing are 41% higher than that of neighboring stores.

 I found this article particularly interesting because it mentioned Central Falls, since Rhode Island is such a small state, this issue hit close to home. I find it interesting that there is no easy way for residents in Central Falls to buy the adequate groceries necessary to complete a healthy diet. This article has definitely made me realize that I take for granted the amount of resources in my neighborhood and I have never had to worry, not only what I am going to eat but where I am going to even buy the food from. I spent a semester working in Central Falls High School and I have interacted with the students first hand. I have seen the lunches that they are provided, and it is sad to see what they are given and what is considered “adequate” for a teenager to thrive on all day.

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