
Specifically, they're fighting nutrition standards
that would considerably alter one of the most sacred rituals of the American
public school system: bake sales.
Twelve states have established their own policies to
circumvent regulations in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 that apply
to "competitive snacks," or any foods and beverages sold to students
on school grounds that are not part of the Agriculture Department's school meal
programs, according to the National Association of State Boards of Education.
Georgia is the latest state to announce an exemption
to the federal regulations, which became effective July 1 for thousands of
public schools across the country. Its rule would allow 30 food-related
fundraising days per school year that wouldn't meet the new healthy nutritional
standards, which call for more healthy options and less junk food that could
contribute to the nation's child-obesity problem.
The pushback is not about students' taste buds, but
their wallets. Food fundraisers are a crucial source of revenue for schools,
state education officials say.
"Tough economic times have translated into
fewer resources and these fundraisers allow our schools to raise a considerable
amount of money for very worthwhile education programs," the Georgia
Department of Education wrote in a recent press
release.
"While
we are concerned about the obesity epidemic, limiting food-and-beverage
fundraisers at schools and school-related events is not the solution to solving
it."
The statement called the federal guidelines on
fundraisers "an absolute overreach of the federal government."
Tennessee also plans to allow 30 food-fundraising
days that don't comply with federal standards per school year. Idaho will
allow 10, while Illinois is slowly weaning schools off their bake sales, hoping
to shrink them from an annual 36 days to nine days in the next three years.
Florida and Alabama are considering creating their own exemption policies.
State-level resistance to the healthy-eating
regulations has support in Washington. This spring, Republicans tried
to delay implementation of new school cafeteria
requirements by one year through a proposed 2015 Agriculture Department
spending bill.
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