Tallahassee, Fla. – Today, following Congress’ failure to include U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) pandemic school meal waiver extensions in the omnibus appropriations bill, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried is calling on congressional leadership to take action outside of the appropriations process to extend these critical waivers that have helped child nutrition operations continue throughout the challenges of the pandemic.
Background: When schools closed early in March 2020 due to COVID-19, Florida school districts lost $262 million in funding from nutrition reimbursement and sales. Commissioner Fried requested on September 14, 2020 and again on December 4, 2020 that the Governor use a portion of the state’s CARES Act funding to support school districts and nutrition providers, and to prevent staff reductions and meal service changes due to financial hardship. Governors in California, North Carolina, Virginia, and other states had used CARES Act funding for this purpose. With no response received from the Governor, FDACS requested pandemic emergency relief funding from the USDA, which was approved on May 21, 2021. On July 6, 2021, Commissioner Fried announced that the USDA was providing $93.2 million in federal emergency relief funding to Florida schools impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
About the Division of Food, Nutrition and Wellness: The FDACS Division of Food, Nutrition and Wellness conducts, supervises and administers child nutrition and commodity food distribution programs that are carried out using state or federal funds. We provide outreach, guidance and training to child nutrition program sponsors, schools, school food service directors, parents and teacher organizations, and students about the benefit of fresh food produced in Florida. Our mission is to ensure that every child in Florida has access to a healthy, nutritious meal each day; increase awareness and consumption of Florida’s agricultural commodities; reduce food insecurity among Florida’s most vulnerable populations; and encourage healthy lifestyle among Florida residents.
The letter reads in part: “It is an unfortunate reality that the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are not yet behind us, and therefore our schools are not yet in a place to return to pre-pandemic meal operations. In a recently released USDA report, 92 percent of SFAs reported experiencing continued challenges due to supply chain disruptions. These supply chain issues leave dedicated school nutrition staff constantly working to adapt menus and meet growing ingredient prices and shifting meal component availabilities…. The necessity of the NSLP waivers, to give schools increased flexibility and funding in order to meet these challenges, remains clear
The letter concludes: “It is the duty of my department’s Food, Nutrition and Wellness Division as the administrator of the state’s child nutrition programs to make certain that every child in Florida has access to a healthy, nutritious meal each day. I hope you will take the urgent action needed to provide my department and the SFAs across the country the ability to continue carrying out that great responsibility, so no child in Florida, and no child in our country, goes hungry.”
March 17, 2022
Dear Majority Leader Schumer, Minority Leader McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, and Leader McCarthy:
As Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and on behalf of the over two million Florida children who depend on school meals, I write today to call for congressional action to extend the school meal waivers that we were disappointed to see were not included in the omnibus appropriations bill signed into law this week.
As you know, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act in the 2022 created waivers for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), the NSLP Seamless Summer Option (SSO), and the School Breakfast Program (SBP) allowing meals to be reimbursed at a higher rate to account for the rise in food, supply, and labor costs as well as allowing for meal pattern flexibilities that have been crucial in the face of meal component shortages. These waivers remain critical for the operation of Florida’s school meal programs that are administered by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) that I oversee. The recent failure to extend these waivers severely undermines the ability of Florida schools to feed students in a healthy and accessible way as they will face challenges in sustaining the necessary school nutrition professionals for program administration. However, Congress can still take action outside of the omnibus for our students by passing standalone legislation such as H.R. 6613, the Keeping School Meals Flexible Act, which would extend the school meal waivers until June 30, 2023.
The school meals provided by my department, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), are a vital resource for Florida families. In 2021, up to 12 million children were living in households where they may not always have enough to eat. By waiving the eligibility requirements as part of the application process, it eased the administrative burden on schools and made it possible for all students to have access to school meals. In fact, 90 percent of School Food Authorities (SFAs) reported using the SSO waiver to serve meals open to all students in the 2021-2022 school year.
School meals are an important source of nutrition, improving health and education outcomes. A Tufts University study found schools were the single healthiest source of U.S. food consumed across a sample of children and adults. Because of the NSLP waivers, schools have the capacity to implement “grab and go” meals, which allowed districts to offer breakfast and lunch at the same time, guaranteeing students access to healthy meals regardless of in-person or online learning status. This increased ability to adapt and meet students where they are allowed our schools to give students dependable, nutritious meals that helped them stay focused and succeed.
It is an unfortunate reality that the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are not yet behind us, and therefore our schools are not yet in a place to return to pre-pandemic meal operations. In a recently released USDA report, 92 percent of SFAs reported experiencing continued challenges due to supply chain disruptions. These supply chain issues leave dedicated school nutrition staff constantly working to adapt menus and meet growing ingredient prices and shifting meal component availabilities. For example, just this month, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced food prices have reached a new global high. This is supported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which found grocery prices rose 1.4 percent in February, rising 8.6 percent over the past year. This is the largest increase since the period ending in April 1981. Beyond the cost of the meals themselves, without extending the waivers, our schools will find it financially difficult to retain school nutrition professionals needed to prepare meals and feed our children. The necessity of the NSLP waivers, to give schools increased flexibility and funding in order to meet these challenges, remains clear.
It is the duty of my department’s Food, Nutrition and Wellness Division as the administrator of the state’s child nutrition programs to make certain that every child in Florida has access to a healthy, nutritious meal each day. I hope you will take the urgent action needed to provide my department and the SFAs across the country the ability to continue carrying out that great responsibility, so no child in Florida, and no child in our country, goes hungry.
Sincerely,
Nicole “Nikki” Fried
Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services
