School lunch is more than just a meal for students to fuel them for the day. It’s an opportunity for students to discover new foods, learn about their community and take a personal role in their own health.
As inflation and the scale-back of pandemic-era boosts to SNAP and other government food programs threaten access to healthy food, school lunches matter more than ever.
Modern Farmer talked to school staff in Texas and Alabama about why food–and the funding for food–is so important for communities and students. Here are four reasons why you should care about school food:
Food is a learning tool
Children spend most of their day and year at school. It’s also where many children consume most of their daily nutrition. Whether it’s a lunch from home or a lunch from the cafeteria, school is where students learn about why the food they eat is so important.
Teaching students about nutrition is linked to better long-term health outcomes and better performance in the classroom, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Health class is required in American schools in 46 states and is often the first place children are exposed to information about how what they eat affects their long-term health. The school lunchroom is just one place where health education can leap from the textbook to the real world.
The number of schools providing nutrition education fell from 84.6 percent to 74.1 percent from 2000 to 2014. Not providing nutrition education is linked to lower academic performance at school.
“We want to give these kids good food because it’s important to fuel their day. They can’t focus in the classroom if they’re hungry or if they’ve been working hard in football practice and not eating,” says Lisa Quinn, director of nutrition at Deshler High School.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends schools include nutrition education throughout the school day from school gardens and farm-to-school lunches in addition to in-classroom learning.
Food is a community resilience tool for students and for farmers
Putting local food on school lunch plates is good for farmers and for students.
A school’s big purchases can support the local economy, turning money that previously had been funneled to producers far away, into fuel for the nearby community. That gives schools an opportunity to vote with their dollar, spending money where they want to see the economy grow. In that way, schools can use their budgets to support the public good.
Programs the National Farm to School Network can connect local agriculture to school classrooms, giving students an opportunity to learn about agriculture in their communities and giving farmers local business opportunities.
Including locallysourced food (and education about where it came from) can also make students more likely to eat their greens, according to research from Saint Louis University.
Food insecurity is a national threat
The ability to obtain healthy food is getting harder and harder for American families. In 2024, 47.4 million Americans, including 13.8 million children, live in food-insecure households, according to data from the USDA’s Household Food Security report published in September. The data shows an increase of 3.2 million people compared to 2022 and a 13.5 million increase since 2021.
Researchers with the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) cited inflation and the rollback of COVID-19 pandemic relief programs that had provided temporary boosts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as factors that contributed to the increase in food insecurity.
Shoring up these programs, FRAC believes, will help to quell the threat food insecurity poses.
“We have the tools needed to end hunger. It’s time to wield them and finally make hunger in America a thing of the past,” says Crystal FitzSimons, interim president of FRAC.
The now-expired bonus funding for SNAP gave schools the resources to provide free meals to students at no charge. This gap in funding highlights the important role schools play in providing essential nutrition to American children.
“SNAP is our nation’s first line of defense against hunger, but the benefit levels are too low. The 2021 adjustment to the Thrifty Food Plan, which is used to determine SNAP benefits, was an important step in increasing benefit levels, providing more resources to participants to purchase the food they need. Yet, despite an increase in food insecurity nationwide, rather than invest more in SNAP, several lawmakers seek to cut nearly $30 billion in SNAP benefits over 10 years,” said officials with the Food Research & Action Center in a press release on the 2024 report.
How you can take action for better school food
Support efforts such as the Healthy School Meals for All initiative and the Good Food Purchasing Program
If you want to learn more about organized efforts to make school food healthier and more accessible to all families, visit the Healthy School Meals for All, Good Food Purchasing Program and CDC Healthy Schools websites.
The Good Food Purchasing Program has an action planning toolkit you can use to gauge how you can make an impact on your local food system and how to take action.
To really dig into the organizations taking this issue seriously, check out the list of 1,400 organizations that signed this July 2024 letter asking Congress to protect SNAP. Find which organizations are in your area and get involved with their efforts.
Contact your local representative
Call your local lawmaker and ask them to support efforts to improve nutrition education and connect local agriculture with the school lunchroom.
Support local agriculture through SNAP
Instead of buying food at the grocery store, consider visiting a local farmer’s market. If you receive SNAP benefits, you may be able to double your food-buying power through the Double Up Food Bucks program. The program matches every SNAP dollar spent at farmer’s markets, doubling your purchasing power at the local farmer’s market.
Spending SNAP benefits with farmer’s markets tells government funders that Americans want more access to locallygrown food.