Serving Up Some Commonsense
By Rep. Kristi Noem
March 20, 2015
Between the 2010-11 and 2012-13 school years, 1.2 million kids dropped out of the federal school lunch program. It was the first decline we’d seen in over a decade. According to the Government Accountability Office – a nonpartisan agency that serves as a watchdog over taxpayer-funded programs – the decline was largely due to challenges with the “palatability” of the food being served and the implementation costs of new federal mandates. Despite falling participation, the federal government wants to go even further.
As is true for any parent, I want nothing more than my kids to be healthy and happy. I make sure the meals they get at home are nutritious and I expect the same when they go through the lunch line at school. But what the federal government has done to school lunches doesn’t work. It pushes every child into a one-size-fits-all mold, tying the hands of those who are closest to our kids and empowering bureaucrats in Washington to dictate what goes on the tray.
These bureaucrats clearly aren’t cooks. Schools are struggling to get a pasta that holds together under the new whole-grain requirements. Tortillas and many breads are out of the question too. The ultra-low sodium levels, which are to be implemented soon, could push items like milk and cheese off the plate, because these foods have naturally occurring sodium.
The federal government has kicked commonsense out the window with these requirements because they think people in D.C. know better than a parent, local nutritionist, or school administrator. That’s a problem.
What’s worse is that schools are breaking the bank trying to pay for the new requirements. I’ve heard from many schools that are being forced to pull dollars from the general fund in order to cover school meal costs. For many districts, that’s money that could have gone toward the school’s instructional programs. That should not happen.
We need to give our local schools more flexibility on these requirements. Earlier this month, I introduced the Reducing Federal Mandates on School Lunch Act. This bill takes aim at the overly restrictive whole grain and sodium requirements while also giving administrators more flexibility on the rules that have increased their costs.
I believe everyone in this debate has the same goal: To serve our kids healthy meals at school. But if schools have to divert scarce education dollars to comply with federal mandates that insist upon serving foods kids won’t eat anyways, we have to reassess the program. That’s the point we’re at now.
We need to give control back to the people who are closest to the students, because our kids deserve better than a lunch designed by bureaucrats.
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At what point is her common sense going to make an impact in DC? So far its been a slogan. Can she get it done?
Her behavior in DC has been devoid of commonsense. This girl is a shill for GOP leadership.
obviously two thirds of the active voters in this state have a different opinion.
That’s because she’s so pretty.
Enquirer, why are you consistently an arrogant ass?
She is a follower not a leader to Boehner.
Well, Kristi Amnesty, soon you, your sugar daddy Boehner, and the other Dirty 75 of the Republican Caucus will find that Michelle’s crappy school lunches will become a NON-ISSUE once the 11 million illegals that you voted to let in show up and overwhelm public schools from San Antonio to Sturgis. The menus can be significantly simplified to torillas, rice and beans 5 days a week. NO PROBLEMO. PERFECTO!
(PS- If I were you, I’d turn my attention to helping South Dakota with some surge recruiting of bi-lingual public school teachers. If you think this state has a teacher shortage crisis now, you ain’t seen nothing yet.)
Kinda nasty, don’t you think? These are real human beings we are talking about. You would not talk that way in front of their faces because, I am assuming, you have a soul.
Kristi’s failure on the issue of illegal immigration is beyond reprehensible. Anger is the correct response, but that anger should be focussed upon our elected officials, not the illegal immigrants themselves. I don’t begrudge an illegal immigrant’s attempt to find a better life for himself (though he should be sent back). I do take seriously a lawmaker’s failure to secure our borders.