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S. HRG. 109–124

SCHOOL NUTRITION PROGRAMS

HEARING

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, 

NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY

UNITED STATES SENATE

ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

MARCH 15, 2005

Printed for the use of the 

Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.agriculture.senate.gov 

COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY

SAXBY CHAMBLISS, Georgia, Chairman 

RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana 

THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi 

MITCH MCCONNELL, Kentucky 

PAT ROBERTS, Kansas 

JAMES M. TALENT, Missouri 

CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming 

RICK SANTORUM, Pennsylvania 

NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota 

MICHEAL D. CRAPO, Idaho 

CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa 

TOM HARKIN, Iowa 

PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont 

KENT CONRAD, North Dakota 

MAX BAUCUS, Montana 

BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, Arkansas 

DEBBIE A. STABENOW, Michigan 

E. BENJAMIN NELSON, Nebraska 

MARK DAYTON, Minnesota 

KEN SALAZAR, Colorado

MARTHA SCOTT POINDEXTER, Majority Staff Director 

DAVID L. JOHNSON, Majority Chief Counsel 

STEVEN MEEKS, Majority Legislative Director 

ROBERT E. STURM, Chief Clerk 

MARK HALVERSON, Minority Staff Director 

(II) 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

Page

HEARING(S):

School Nutrition Programs ..................................................................................... 01

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

STATEMENTS PRESENTED BY SENATORS 

Chambliss, Hon. Saxby, a U.S. Senator from Georgia, Chairman, Committee 

on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry ............................................................. 01

Harkin, Hon. Tom, a U.S. Senator from Iowa, Ranking Member, Committee 

on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry ............................................................. 02

Leahy, Hon. Patrick, a U.S. Senator from Vermont ............................................. 16

WITNESSES 

Dole, Hon. Elizabeth, a U.S. Senator from North Carolina ................................. 03

Panel I 

Hopgood, Annette Bomar, Director, School and Community Nutrition

Program, Georgia Department of Education, Atlanta, Georgia ....................... 10

Johnson, Karen, School Nutrition Association President, Director of Child 

Nutrition Programs, Yuma, Arizona .................................................................. 05

Jonen, Ruth, School Nutrition Association President-Elect, Director of Food 

Service, Hoffman Estates, Palatine, Illinois ...................................................... 07

Rivas, Dora, Chair, School Nutrition Association Public Policy and Legislative 

Committee, Director, Food and Child Nutrition Services, Dallas

Independent School District, Dallas, Texas ....................................................... 09

APPENDIX 

PREPARED STATEMENTS: 

Dole, Hon. Elizabeth ........................................................................................ 24

Hopgood, Annette Bomar ................................................................................. 29

Johnson, Karen ................................................................................................. 26

(1)

SCHOOL NUTRITION PROGRAMS 

TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 2005, 

U.S. SENATE,, 

COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION AND FORESTRY,, 

Washington, DC. 

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:01 a.m., in room 

SH–215, Hart Senate Office Building, Hon. Saxby Chambliss 

[Chairman of the Committee] presiding. 

Present or submitting a statement: Senators Chambliss, Harkin, 

Leahy, and Salazar. 

STATEMENT OF HON. SAXBY CHAMBLISS, A U.S. SENATOR 

FROM GEORGIA, CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, 

NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY 

The CHAIRMAN. This hearing will now come to order. I welcome 

you all as we discuss the school nutrition programs. 

Good nutrition is important for good health, and our school nutrition programs are a key component of our efforts to provide 

healthy, nutritious meals to our Nation’s schoolchildren. According 

to the United States Department of Agriculture which administers 

these programs, over 1.5 billion school breakfasts and over 4.8 billion school lunches were served in 2004. Of these meals, over 82 

percent of the breakfasts and over 59 percent of the lunches were 

served to children from low income families for which the overwhelming number of these meals were served as free. For some of 

these children, the school nutrition programs may be the healthiest, most balanced meals of their entire day. 

We appreciate the efforts of our school nutrition professionals, 

many of whom are visiting with us today, for the job they perform 

to ensure that our young people have a healthy start on life. I will 

say that as the husband and a father of two school teachers, I hear 

constantly from my wife as well as my daughter about the positive 

reaction, the increased attention span, and the increased ability to 

learn from their children who are provided with breakfast each 

morning. It makes a huge difference, and to you folks who are involved in the school nutrition business, we can’t tell you how much 

we appreciate the great work you do. We thank you for being here 

today and we look forward to this hearing this morning. 

At this I’ll turn to my friend and ranking Democratic member for 

any comment he would like to make. Senator Harkin. 

2

STATEMENT OF HON. TOM HARKIN, A U.S. SENATOR FROM 

IOWA, RANKING MEMBER, COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, 

NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY 

Senator HARKIN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

Thank you very much for calling this very important hearing. It’s 

always a pleasure to be joined by our friends from the School Nutrition Association. I also want to welcome the Iowans here today, 

Virginia Bechtold, the president of the Iowa School Nutrition Association, Teresa Neese, and the rest of the Iowa delegates in town. 

Last year this committee successfully reauthorized the Federal 

Child Nutrition programs with enormous bipartisan support. The 

Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 not only improved the access of low income children to Federal child nutrition 

programs but also included provisions that I believe will dramatically improve how our kids eat at school. 

Kids today face a minefield of nutritional risk. From the moment 

they get up in the morning till the time they go to bed at night 

they have dozens of opportunities to consume an unhealthy diet 

and far too few chances to eat healthy diets. It is no wonder that 

the Department of Agriculture found that scarcely any school-age 

children and adolescents meet all scientific recommendations for a 

sound diet. Even our public schools have been inundated by candy 

and soft drinks and snacks that are high in sugar and salt and fat. 

Too often, children don’t have the time or opportunity for exercise 

and physical activity. 

I just saw a figure just not too long ago, Mr. Chairman, that said 

that 80 percent of our elementary school kids in America today get 

less than 1 hour of physical activity a week in school. 

The CHAIRMAN. How many hours of television? 

Senator HARKIN. Exactly. We are not getting enough physical activity out there either. 

We are making some progress. Last year’s Child Nutrition bill included a provision under which schools will establish local school 

wellness policies. These wellness policies will include goals for nutrition education and physical activity, as well as nutritional guidelines for all of the food sold and made available on school grounds. 

The legislation gives local communities the authority to set the 

standards themselves according to local needs. In doing so are required to involve a diverse group of individuals including parents 

and students, school officials and the public. 

Local school wellness policies represent an historic opportunity 

for our schools to promote healthy nutrition and physical activity 

among children and adolescents. I’m eager to hear from our witnesses today about their efforts to give kids healthier choices at 

school and to implement their local wellness policies. I thank our 

witnesses for their participation in this hearing today, and I also 

hope we will hear some comments on the free fruits and vegetables 

programs that are now in eight States and over 200 schools and 

growing very rapidly. 

Again, Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for calling this hearing and I see that one of our leaders in this area is our leadoff witness and we certainly welcome our colleague here today, too. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

3

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator. Our first witness is a 

former member of this committee and dear friend of mine, and a 

lady who has a keen interest in this particular issue. She’s a great 

American and doing a terrific job of representing the State of North 

Carolina, my friend, Senator Dole. We welcome you; we look forward to your testimony. 

STATEMENT OF HON. ELIZABETH DOLE, A U.S. SENATOR 

FROM NORTH CAROLINA 

Senator DOLE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Senator Harkin, good 

morning. Thank you so very much, Mr. Chairman, for convening 

this important hearing and for allowing me the opportunity to testify this morning. 

Nutrition programs, a central mission of this committee, have always enjoyed a very special tradition of bipartisan support. This 

past year, working together, we crafted the Child Nutrition and 

WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004, which the President signed into 

law on June 30. We know that child nutrition and education are 

inextricably linked. It really is fairly simple, isn’t it? When children 

are hungry, they don’t learn. To compete effectively in the world 

market, the United States must have an educated workforce. To 

educate our children to their maximum potential, we must have 

strong and effective child nutrition programs if we expect each and 

every child to meet his or her full potential. 

The President has continued his support for child nutrition as 

demonstrated by his budget proposal. A very lean budget but one 

that recognizes the importance of the child nutrition programs. I’m 

encouraged that the President’s proposed budget does not involve 

program cuts or budget caps for child nutrition. The nutrition programs are an important component of this committee’s jurisdiction, 

and I know that you, Mr. Chairman, and the other members of the 

committee will work hard to ensure that the fundamental mission 

of these programs is not compromised. 

I look forward to working with you on these challenges and I 

urge my colleagues on this committee to follow the President’s lead 

and work to protect these child nutrition programs. 

Let me also raise one area of particular interest and concern for 

me: the eligibility requirements for the school lunch and breakfast 

programs should be consistent with the WIC program. As we know, 

the school lunch and breakfast programs have three income categories, free, reduced, and paid meals. The children from families 

whose income is between 130 percent of poverty and 185 percent 

of poverty are eligible for reduced price meals. It is the smallest of 

the three categories. Unfortunately, State and local school boards 

have informed me that many parents are finding it difficult to pay 

the reduced price fee, and for some families the fee is an insurmountable barrier to participation. 

There are a number of great individuals who work daily with 

these children who take money from their own pockets to help 

bridge this inequity. In fact many of them, Mr. Chairman, are here 

today in this hearing room representing the School Nutrition Association, and I thank them for all the hard work that they do on behalf of our children. 

4

This is why I am a strong supporter of legislation to eliminate 

the reduced price fee and harmonize the school meal income eligibility guideline with WIC. If a family qualifies for free WIC benefits they should also qualify for free school meals. It just makes 

sense, and I fundamentally believe this is the right thing to do. For 

those youngsters who currently fall into the reduced price category, 

this will help make all the difference in the world; the difference 

between sitting in class hungry and malnourished or comfortable 

and attentive. 

For a number of these children, particularly in today’s fast food 

climate, the meals they are offered at school are by far, as you have 

said, Mr. Chairman, the best they have all day long. Last year’s 

child nutrition legislation authorized a pilot program funded from 

discretionary dollars to eliminate the reduced price fee in up to five 

States. It is imperative that we begin to make headway on this initiative as a part of our national commitment to eliminating hunger 

and nutritional deficiencies among the children of this country. 

I’ve written to Appropriations Chairman Cochran, Subcommittee 

Chairman Bennett, and ranking member Kohl asking for funds to 

initiate the pilot we authorized. I encourage the members of this 

committee to join me in this request. I’ve suggested an appropriation of $29 million, but the exact amount will ultimately depend on 

which States are selected by the Department of Agriculture. 

Mr. Chairman, I applaud you for your leadership and your commitment to child nutrition; Senator Harkin also. In addition, let me 

also take this opportunity to thank you for your staunch defense 

of all sectors of agriculture across this country. I know our farm 

families in North Carolina are so pleased to have you at the helm 

of this committee, Mr. Chairman, and I thank you for the opportunity today to address my concerns. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Dole can be found in the appendix on page 24.] 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Senator Dole, and just 

know that Senator Harkin and I both look forward to working with 

you as we explore the expansion of this pilot program, which obviously was a great idea, No. 1, and is something that is very much 

needed in our nutrition programs. I would encourage all of our 

folks to grab a handful of Georgia peanuts as they go back home 

because there’s plenty of energy and nutrition in here. [Holds up 

a pocket of Georgia Peanuts] 

Senator DOLE. There’s also North Carolina peanuts too. 

[Laughter.] 

The CHAIRMAN. We’ll even share that with them. Thank you very 

much, Elizabeth. 

For our second panel the committee calls forward represents of 

the School Nutrition Association. SNA is a national nonprofit professional organization representing more than 55,000 members, including over 7,000 in my State of Georgia who every day provide 

nearly 33 million high-quality, low-cost meals to students across 

the country. The association and its members are dedicated to feeding children safe and nutritious meals. 

SNA members work in all aspects of the school nutrition field, 

from directing school district nutrition and food service departVerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:31 Sep 22, 2005 Jkt 020613 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCS\20613.TXT TOSHD PsN: LAVERN
5

ments, to conducting nutrition education, to managing individual 

school kitchens, and staffing school cafeterias and kitchens. SNA 

has a 59–year-history, having been founded the same year the National School Lunch Act passed in Congress, an act which incidentally is named for former Senator Richard B. Russell, who is certainly a legend in this institution and happens to be from my home 

State of Georgia, and who served on this committee from 1941 to 

1946. 

We are pleased this morning to introduce Karen Johnson, president of SNA, Ruth Jonen, the president-elect of SNA, Dora Rivas, 

chair of SNA’s public policy and legislative committee, and Ms. Annette Bomar Hopgood, director of the school and community nutrition program of the Georgia Department of Education. Ladies, 

we’re particularly pleased to have you here this morning. We thank 

you again for the great work you do and we look forward to your 

testimony this morning. 

Ms. Johnson, we’ll start with you. 

STATEMENT OF KAREN JOHNSON, SCHOOL NUTRITION ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT, DIRECTOR OF CHILD NUTRITION PROGRAMS, YUMA, ARIZONA 

Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you. Chairman Chambliss, our congratulations to you on assuming the chairmanship of this committee. We 

look forward to continuing the special tradition between child nutrition and great State of Georgia. Senator Harkin, and all members of the committee, thank you for your leadership on the Child 

Nutrition and the WIC Reauthorization, and for continuing the tradition of this hearing. 

I am Karen Johnson, president of the School Nutrition Association, formerly the American School Food Service Association, and 

I’m also the director of child nutrition programs in Yuma, Arizona. 

With me is Ruth Jonen, our president-elect, food service director 

from Palatine, Illinois; Dora Rivas, the chair of our public policy 

and legislative committee, and director of child nutrition in Dallas, 

Texas; and Annette Hopgood, the director of child nutrition for the 

State of Georgia. We are supported by a few hundred of our dedicated colleagues and our counsel, Marshall Matz. 

As we meet here today, we are all aware of the difficult budget 

challenge that you face and that we face as Americans. The size 

of the Federal deficit and national debt is simply daunting and 

overwhelming. We are concerned about what it means for the economic health of the United States and for future generations. 

Nevertheless, we are here on behalf of our most important resource, our children. We believe deeply that the child nutrition programs we administer are vital to the education of our children and 

their health and well-being. As we all know, hungry children do not 

learn. Without these important child nutrition programs, children 

are distracted in school and less receptive to the lessons being 

taught, students are more prone to illness, and school attendance 

suffers. 

We therefore ask that these programs be exempt from any reconciliation or budget cap that Congress may enact. President Bush 

has held the child nutrition programs harmless in the drive to cut 

6

the deficit and we believe that is the correct position for the country. 

In 1981, the child nutrition programs were cut by approximately 

one-third and we lost 3 million children from the school lunch program. It took over 20 years before participation in the program rebounded to the pre-1981 level. 

In 2005, the programs are struggling financially much more than 

they were in 1981. The Federal reimbursement rates are generally 

not adequate to cover the cost of the meal. The current Federal reimbursement rate for a free lunch is $2.24 per meal with an additional 17 cents in USDA commodities. It is very challenging and 

often impossible to produce a nutritious meal for that amount of 

money. Even a small cut of 5 percent or 10 percent would have a 

dramatic effect on meal quality and student participation. Historically, we have found that for every one-cent increase in the price 

of a meal to children, schools lose 1 percent participation. We believe that any decrease in the Federal reimbursement rate at this 

time would have a much greater effect. 

Mr. Chairman, allow me to mention in passing that it is the 

shortfall in the Federal reimbursement rate that has in great part 

led to the introduction and expansion of other food items through 

a la carte lines and vending operations. Research has demonstrated 

that students who choose school meals have better diets than children who do not. They consume more fruits, vegetables, milk, and 

have fewer overall calories from fat. 

Last year in the reauthorization act, the Congress authorized a 

pilot program in up to five States to eliminate the reduced price 

meal program. Under the pilot, the free meal eligibility guideline 

would be increased from 130 percent to 185 percent of poverty, the 

same guidelines used in WIC to determine who is eligible for free 

WIC benefits. We urge funding for this important pilot. 

Over 500 local and State school boards have endorsed the elimination of the reduced price programming. For too many families in 

the income category, the reduced price fee of 40 cents per meal per 

child for lunch and 30 cents for breakfast is simply too much 

money, and therefore, a barrier air to participation. The reduced 

price category is the smallest of the three income categories; approximately 9 percent of the children in the school lunch program 

are in the reduced category. Eliminating the reduced fee would extend the benefits of the school meal program to low income working 

households and we believe we should be tested through the pilot 

program. 

The amount of money needed for the pilot would, of course, depend on the size of the States selected by USDA to participate. The 

department would not select the States until the money is appropriated. Senator Dole, the sponsor of this legislation proposing the 

elimination of the reduced price category, has suggested an appropriation of $29 million. We support this amount. 

The summer food service program is the most underutilized of 

the Federal nutrition programs. While almost 16 million children 

participate in the free or reduced price meal programs at school, 

only 2 million children are served during summer months. One of 

the biggest barriers to participation is the lack of approved sponVerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:31 Sep 22, 2005 Jkt 020613 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCS\20613.TXT TOSHD PsN: LAVERN
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sors. One of the major barriers to recruiting sponsors is the burdensome administrative requirements for the program. 

Several years ago Chairman Lugar authored a provision calling 

for a pilot program to demonstrate the effects of simplified administration of the program. The 14–State pilot reduced paperwork by 

using the same method of program reimbursement used in the regular school meal program. 

The pilot worked well and last year the pilot was made permanent and the number of States participating in the program was 

increased from 14 to 20. We would encourage the Congress to further increase the number of States until every State operates 

under the simplified procedures of the Lugar pilots. 

Childhood obesity has captured the Nation’s attention, as well it 

should. The statistics are frightening. Yet for all we’re spending as 

a Nation on Federal nutrition programs and health care costs for 

diseases where obesity is a risk factor, we spend almost nothing on 

nutrition education and nutrition promotion. The reauthorization 

act authorized several initiatives in this area. 

The first is teaching children to make healthy choices in the 

foods they eat and the importance of physical activity. The act authorizes a team nutrition network that would combine support for 

the team nutrition program with a program of grants to the States 

and local districts to deliver both team nutrition materials and programs developed by the States and local districts. 

Children today are bombarded with messages about what they 

should eat. It is essential that children also receive balanced, positive messages to reinforce the health curriculum being taught in 

the classroom. Therefore, we urge the Congress to appropriate 50 

cents per child per year for nutrition education and nutrition promotion. This modest amount of money would complement the investment being made in the nutrition programs by helping children 

learn to make healthy food choices and engage in physical activity. 

Mr. Chairman, Senator Harkin, members of the committee, 

thank you again for the opportunity to present this testimony. Now 

I would like to turn to my fellow panel members and asked them 

to present their brief comments. Ruth Jonen, the SNA presidentelect will focus on the new local wellness policy section of last 

year’s reauthorization law, a section we are very excited about, and 

what we’re doing to gear up to implement it. She will be followed 

by Dora Rivas, food service director from Dallas Independent 

School District in Texas, and then Annette Hopgood from the great 

State of Georgia. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Johnson can be found in the appendix on page 26.] 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

Ms. Jonen. 

STATEMENT OF RUTH JONEN, SCHOOL NUTRITION ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT-ELECT, DIRECTOR OF FOOD SERVICE, 

HOFFMAN ESTATES, PALATINE, ILLINOIS 

Ms. JONEN. Good morning. Mr. Chairman, Senator Harkin, members of the committee, thank you very much for this opportunity 

to add a few words about the local wellness policy section of last 

8

year’s reauthorization bill. We believe this section presents a great 

opportunity to improve the nutritional environment in our Nation’s 

schools. 

We wish to commend the committee for this new, imaginative, 

and important section of the law. As you know, Section 204 of the 

reauthorization will require each local educational agency that participates in Federal child nutrition programs, to establish a local 

wellness policy. The local policy shall include goals for nutrition 

education, physical activity, and nutrition guidelines for foods 

available on the school campus. The law is not prescriptive in dictating what the local goals shall be, only that the local education 

agency shall put it on their agendas and establish goals that best 

serve its community. 

The School Nutrition Association believes this was a very creative approach to a very difficult challenge. This section also complements other parts of the legislation that seek to improve nutrition education and nutrition promotion. The new wellness initiative 

has already stimulated a lot of thought and discussion across the 

country and within our association. Internally, the School Nutrition 

Association has convened a task force that just met a couple of 

weeks ago here in Washington to develop a tool to assist local 

school districts draft their own wellness policy. The task force gathered data and sample policies from across the country and we’ll be 

sharing those practices with other school districts. Our goal is to 

focus attention on wellness policies without being prescriptive. 

A good example of establishing a partnership approach to the 

local wellness policy comes from Karen Johnson’s own home State 

of Arizona. Championed by the State superintendent for education, 

Arizona has worked with a team of educators, school administrators, school food service directors, health professionals, and private 

industry to develop a model policy as a guide for schools in Arizona. The model has been piloted in eight schools and evaluated for 

both nutritional and financial impact. All schools realized at least 

the same amount of revenue from a la carte and vending sales. In 

fact some saw substantially greater income from these two revenue 

sources after implementing that policy. 

Senator Harkin, I know you are particularly interested in school 

wellness policies so we did a little background research on how 

schools in Iowa are implementing the local wellness policies. Currently, schools across your State and beginning to establish their 

committees that will put together their local wellness policies. The 

Iowa School Nutrition Association is partnering with the Iowa Department of Education to do five workshops across the State to 

help school understand their responsibilities and the requirements 

under the law for local school wellness policies in last year’s child 

nutrition bill. The Iowa Department of Education is also working 

with the Iowa Association of School Boards to form a task force 

that will draft a model policy for schools to use as a starting point 

for their own local wellness policies. 

In general, as is the case across the country, a wide variety of 

stakeholders in Iowa are coming together to collaborate on the local 

wellness policies. We are excited by the energy and the enthusiasm 

that they are bringing to their task. Such a level of collaboration 

on school nutrition issues is unprecedented and it is, in my opinion, 

9

vindication of the wisdom of this committee in putting the local 

wellness policies into the law. 

In short, Mr. Chairman, Senator Harkin, we look forward to 

working with educators, parents, students, community health professionals, and other interested parties to implement the law. We 

are excited by the opportunities presented by the local wellness 

policies and we believe they present an extraordinary opportunity 

to transform our children’s eating habits at school. The larger goal, 

of course, is to promote student health and reduce childhood obesity. Thank you so much for including this section in the law. 

Now I’ll turn it over to Dora. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Ms. Jonen. 

Ms. Rivas. 

STATEMENT OF DORA RIVAS, CHAIR, SCHOOL NUTRITION ASSOCIATION PUBLIC POLICY AND LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE, 

DIRECTOR, FOOD AND CHILD NUTRITION SERVICES, DALLAS INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT, DALLAS, TEXAS 

Ms. RIVAS. Thank you, Ruth. 

Mr. Chairman, Senator Harkin, and members of the committee, 

from a local perspective, one of the most important reforms we can 

have in the school nutrition programs is to eliminate the reduced 

price meal category. It is truly a barrier to participation in the program and access to a nutritious meal. Forty cents may not sound 

like a lot in Washington, but back home 40 cents for lunch per 

child per day and 30 cents for breakfast per child per day adds up, 

and it is a significant amount for low income children to pay. When 

one extends this to an average low income family of four who already qualifies for WIC, they just cannot afford even that. 

In Dallas ISD, our current enrollment is approximately 158,000 

students. Of those, 109,000 students, 69 percent of our enrollment, 

are eligible for free meals, and 14,200 students, 9 percent of our 

enrollment, are eligible for reduced price meals. What I see is a gap 

between those that are eligible and those who actually participate. 

What is interesting is that those who qualify for reduced price 

meals, only 14 percent participate in the breakfast program and 

only 75 percent of those participate in the lunch program. 

Studies have shown the relationship between nutrition and 

learning. In my previous job as food service director with the 

Brownsville Independent School District in Brownsville, Texas 

under a special assistance, provision two, students things were offered free meals regardless of their ability to pay. When we initially went into the program about 10 years ago I received phone 

calls from reduced price category families indicating how appreciative they were not to worry about their children having a 

healthy meal at school. The 40 cents for lunch and 30 cents for 

breakfast was a true hardship for their families. 

Mr. Chairman, I agree with your wife and daughter in their observations. What I have learned in observing students throughout 

the years is that students who are hungry are less attentive in the 

classroom and are more likely to perform poorly in school, and in 

many cases the school meal is the only nutritious meal they receive 

all day. I also learned that although it may be a parent’s responsibility to provide for their family, when a child shows up in the cafeVerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:31 Sep 22, 2005 Jkt 020613 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCS\20613.TXT TOSHD PsN: LAVERN
10

teria line and doesn’t have money to pay for their meal, it is not 

their fault and they are still hungry. 

In Dallas, I pointed out earlier that I see a gap between those 

that are eligible for reduced prices and those who actually participate in the program. Evidence of students not having money to pay 

for their meals is the over $85,500 that is spent in Dallas each year 

to prepare cheese sandwiches and milk for those students who 

didn’t have money to pay for their meals. As food service directors 

and cafeteria employees at schools, we cannot in good conscience 

let a student go without eating, and thus, we end up absorbing the 

cost of this food. This translates to lost revenue that is not being 

spent on meals being served to all students. 

Also, on those days, the child is missing other very key nutrients 

that are important in their growth and development. We do not 

want any of our children to be left behind, especially the disadvantaged. The gap to access for a nutritious meal and improved student classroom performance for those disadvantaged students can 

be closed by eliminating the reduced price meal category. These 

students who qualify for reduced prices are the same students that 

qualify for benefits under the WIC program. 

Thank you for your time and attention this morning. Childhood 

wellness is a big issue across the Nation. Providing adequate nutrition to our children should receive the highest legislative priority. 

Our biggest investment is their children. They are our future. Appropriating funds to provide all students with a healthy, safe meal 

at no cost in a nurturing environment should be our ultimate goal. 

Eliminating the reduced price meal, or at minimum, appropriating 

funds for the pilots to test this initiative is an important move forward. 

Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Ms. Rivas. 

Ms. Hopgood, a special welcome to you. We look forward to hearing from you. 

STATEMENT OF ANNETTE BOMAR HOPGOOD, DIRECTOR, 

SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY NUTRITION PROGRAM, GEORGIA 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, ATLANTA, GEORGIA 

Ms. HOPGOOD. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and Mr. 

Harkin. We certainly appreciate being here today and want to congratulate you on your election to chair of this very important committee. 

I guess I’m here today representing not only the Georgia Department of Education, but also other State agencies across the country 

who are responsible for implementing those statutes that originate 

here in this committee. Despite my youthful appearance, I am currently the most senior State agency director in the country, so I’m 

here to offer you my own and my department’s assistance in your 

chairmanship as you go through this process of making important 

decisions about the school nutrition program. We especially appreciate your continuing the tradition here today of having this hearing. This is an opportunity for those of us who are practitioners to 

see you face-to-face, thank you for what you are doing for our program, and to let you know that we look to you for the leadership 

that we know that you will provide. 

11

I bring greetings to you today from the State superintendent of 

schools, Kathy Cox, and she wanted me to remind you and share 

with you that she has a very strong opinion that school meals do 

in fact have a tremendous impact on and are an integral part of 

her efforts for Georgia to lead the Nation in improving student 

achievement. Over the last 4 weeks I have been able to meet with 

over 50 local school board members through the Georgia School 

Boards Association meeting at both Lake Blackshear and at Lake 

Lanier, where we discussed the relationship between health and 

academic achievement, and introduced the concept of the local 

wellness policies to these board members who are very excited 

about finding something within the school environment that they 

can control that will have positive impact on the health of children 

and their academic achievement. There are a lot of things that we 

cannot control that our children bring to school each day, but we 

can control the school environment, and they clearly understand 

that. 

Down to my key point, however, it’s just downright exciting to 

see Georgia peanuts again in this committee room. As you well 

know, there is a special and a long-standing tradition between 

Georgia and the child nutrition program and you alluded to this 

earlier. I constantly remind my colleagues across the country that 

it is the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act that we 

work diligently to implement across this country. Each time a 

Georgian, Senator Russell, Senator Talmadge, has chaired this 

committee, this distinguished committee, the school nutrition program has made historical advances. We look forward to your leadership and we have great expectations for your leadership. 

Today, I am joined by a Georgia delegation numbering over 70. 

The CHAIRMAN. By far the best-looking group here. 

Ms. HOPGOOD. I know. It’s just a shame but that’s just the way 

it is. About half of those with us today are industry partners who 

help us get the supplies and materials and the foods into our 

schools that we need to provide the services that we do. The 7,004 

members of the Georgia School Food Service Association and my 

own staff at the department of education and Mrs. Cox are available to help you in any way that we possibly can in executing your 

leadership role. 

We offer you the practical knowledge that we have gained by 

serving 1.1 million, or 74 percent of our children, lunches every day 

at school. That represents about 5 percent of all the lunches that 

are served across this country, which is very significant. We have 

one of the highest rates of student participation in the lunch program and the breakfast program in the country. We also serve 

500,000 breakfasts and snacks every day. Systems such as Thomas 

County in south Georgia are finding creative ways to take breakfast into the classroom so that they can reach more children and 

can also extend the instructional time for our classroom teachers. 

I’m just delighted to be here today and appear with the School 

Nutrition Association. I’ve been affiliated with the association since 

you don’t what to know when. I’m also very delighted to be affiliated with their efforts on behalf of young people. I’ll be happy to 

answer any questions today or in the future. 

Thank you. 

12

[The prepared statement of Ms. Hopgood can be found in the appendix on page 29.] 

The CHAIRMAN. Thanks to each of you, again, very much for your 

work, and particularly thank you for being here today to help 

spread the good message about what’s happening out there all 

across America with this program. It’s pretty obvious that the 

President thinks an awful lot of the fact that we need to make sure 

that our children are eating well before they begin school each day. 

That’s one reason in these very difficult budget times that we’re in 

right now that he has seen fit not to ask us to achieve any savings 

in this program. 

Ms. Johnson, many of us can imagine that kids can sometimes 

be picky about what they eat. Having two myself, I know exactly 

what that’s all about. Knowing that school meals must meet Federal guidelines for nutrition, specifically for the meals that you 

serve, how difficult is it for you to plan your menus with food that 

kids want to eat and that also meets those nutritional requirements? 

Ms. JOHNSON. We’re serving foods that children do want to eat. 

We’re serving pizza with low fat cheese, perhaps more fiber in the 

crust. It’s meeting the dietary guidelines. We have fresh fruit and 

vegetable bars. We have low far milk. There’s juice. I believe we 

are serving those foods that children want to eat. 

The CHAIRMAN. I’m curious too about your summer program. Tell 

me again what percentage of folks it is you reach. I know some of 

our local programs where they’re taking advantage of that, but the 

need for additional sponsors and the problem with getting additional sponsors, is a lot of that problem due to the Federal paperwork involved? If so, can you enlighten us a little bit on that 

please? 

Ms. JOHNSON. Yes, it’s another set of paperwork that’s pretty detailed and is pretty burdensome to the program. I know in Arizona 

I was able to—and it’s one of the States that I’m able to just go 

right into the summer program under the same paperwork that 

I’ve operated and the same rules and regulations that we run the 

regular program on. It’s an easy transition. It doesn’t put up a barrier to myself as a sponsor, or perhaps someone in the community 

that would like to be a sponsor. It’s easy transition. 

In some States it’s not simplified paperwork and it is a barrier. 

The CHAIRMAN. Ms. Rivas, I note that obviously commodities 

given to school systems by USDA plays an integral role in the diets 

that you provide for our children. Could you tell us a little bit 

about how that works from the standpoint of practical day-to-day 

operation? Has the amount of commodities given to the systems 

fluctuated over the last several years? 

Ms. RIVAS. We can always use more commodities, particularly as 

difficult a time as we have making ends meet. The quality of commodities has been improving through the years. We have had simplified processes in being able to take commodities that our farmers 

produce and being able to produce them into products that are 

premanufactured that students will like. For example, taking 

whole turkeys and already having them processed into turkey roast 

or chicken nuggets, making them a lot more acceptable to our students. 

13

The CHAIRMAN. Ms. Hopgood, you mentioned what’s happening 

in Thomas County, which happens to be adjoining to me. I know 

those folks down there and I know they run an awfully good school 

system. Is it a matter of thinking out-of-the-box or are these some 

ideas that have come out of various meetings like this that you’ve 

held around the State or around the country? Could you just enlighten us a little bit on that? 

Ms. HOPGOOD. I feel sure that there are efforts around the country to do breakfast in the classroom, grab-and-go breakfast. In 

some of our schools we have close to 100 percent of the children 

that are in fact eating breakfast, just like they eat lunch, which is 

almost amazing. We serve about 55 percent of our free and reduced 

children at breakfast, but we also have one of the highest rates of 

paying children who eat breakfast at school, because parents see 

that as a convenience to them because they are both working and 

get up and out. 

In the particular case of Thomas County, they have exceptional 

leadership. The school nutrition director there, Karen Green, whose 

husband happens to be the school superintendent—I say they sleep 

together and that’s the reason she does so well in her position 

there. 

[Laughter.] 

Ms. HOPGOOD. She would be very disappointed if I didn’t tell you 

that today. She worked very diligently with her school principals 

and her classroom teachers so that they could implement procedures that were very efficient and that moved that process on 

there. She has schools where they’re serving not only economically 

needy children but they’re reaching almost 100 percent of their student population at breakfast. We know there’s no research stronger 

that shows the relationship between health and academic achievement than that related to breakfast and academic achievement. We 

have a lot of people—that’s being done in north Georgia, it’s being 

done in DeKalb County. It’s been very successful where they have 

worked through the efficiency issues, the procedures locally. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Harkin. 

Senator HARKIN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

I’m sorry, I’m going to have to leave. I have another committee, 

a Labor Committee I’ve got to go to, but I did want to hear the testimony and again to express my gratitude to all of you here in the 

School Food Service Association which is now called the School Nutrition Association, for all that you’ve done for so many years to get 

our kids a good healthy start in life. If it weren’t for the school 

breakfast and the school lunch program, I can dare say what shape 

our country would be in today. The vision of a Richard Russell from 

Georgia and others who came before us have been fulfilled by all 

of you in this room and I thank you for that. 

As you mentioned in your testimony, Ms. Johnson, Ms. Jonen, 

you too, we do have, by all accounts and by the findings of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we do have an obesity epidemic among our kids. We know that. It’s there, and we can’t 

sweep it under the rug. 

We also know that diabetes is happening earlier and earlier in 

life. It’s something that calls for pretty immediate action. I don’t 

know that we can think about what we might do in the next decade 

14

or two. We ought to be thinking in terms of what we do next year 

and the year after and the year after to starting changing our 

course of action in our schools. Kids learn at an early age what to 

eat and what to like. When they are bombarded by up to 40,000 

TV ads before they ever start school about high sugar, high fat content foods, that’s what they develop a liking for. 

There were those, back when the school lunch program started 

who said this had no business in school. Schools were there to 

teach kids, educate them, not to feed them. We’ve gotten over that 

hurdle. It’s like physical exercise. When I was a kid growing up, 

I bet you too, Mr. Chairman, we had recess and we had to go outside and do something. We had to. In Iowa about the only time you 

could stay indoors during recess or lunch period was if it was 20 

below or something like that. Maybe you could stay inside. 

Senator LEAHY. Not in Vermont. 

Senator HARKIN. That’s summer in Vermont. What the heck. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator HARKIN. We now know that we’ve got to address this in 

our schools, which leads me to this whole idea of nutrition and 

wellness. Now you mentioned the wellness policies and things were 

moving ahead. I was somewhat concerned that schools around the 

country should develop their own, but what are the guidelines? A 

lot of people just don’t know. We don’t have the ability to understand what these guidelines ought to be, so in last year’s appropriation bill I put in funding that was supported on both sides of 

the aisle for the Institute of Medicine to do a study, and to provide 

some guidelines. They’re not mandatory, but to provide a checklist, 

guidelines that were scientifically based for schools to follow. Now 

I hope that guideline will be done maybe in a year, year-and-a-half, 

or something like that. I hope in the meantime you proceed on, and 

that school districts proceed on in developing their own wellness 

policies. If some of them are not scientifically based, then they can 

modify them later on. 

The second thing I wanted to just ask is that one of the areas 

of the testimony that the School Nutrition Association did not 

touch upon was the fruit and vegetable program. Again, this was 

something started in the 2002 Farm bill, started as a pilot project 

in four States. The idea was that a lot of kids they come to school—

especially grade school kids, they come to school about 9:30 in the 

morning and they get the growlies. What happens? What do they 

start munching on? Or if you’re in middle school and high school, 

it’s always the vending machine. You can go out and get a nice 

high sugar drink, or you can get something that’s high in sodium 

and that satisfies your growlies. The vending machines are there. 

I hope we’re going to change our policy on those. 

The idea was, what if you provided to kids in school free fresh 

fruits and vegetables. Not just in the lunch room—everywhere. 

Anywhere in the school. Not just you had to go to the lunch room 

at lunch time, but any time. We tested this theory out in four 

States, 100 schools, one Indian reservation. I can sit here today 

and tell you that not one of those schools, not one has asked to be 

taken off the program. In fact—I wouldn’t say all. I don’t know that 

figure, but most of them have asked, please keep us on it. 

15

This year it’s been expanded now to eight States and we’re about 

250 schools now in this country. I’ve visited some of those and you 

see these kids eating these fresh vegetables. They’re eating things 

like fresh broccoli. I saw kids eating fresh spinach. They never had 

it before. Eating carrots, eating everything from apples and oranges to bananas. I had one teacher this weekend told me in Iowa 

about this—she said, I saw a sixth-grade kid in a new school, this 

is a new school that had been added on, picked up a banana and 

tried to eat the banana with the peel on it. Had never had a fresh 

banana; sixth-grade kid. 

What I’ve found in these schools is these kids are eating these 

fresh fruits, kiwi fruits, oranges, apples, you name it, pineapple, 

and guess what, in the middle and high schools they’re not putting 

money into vending machines. In the grade schools, the teachers 

say that kids are learning, they’re calming down, they’re studying 

better, they’re happier kids. Again, it’s been a very positive program and again I’m going to ask the Senate Appropriations Committee to add some more money for this. 

I guess my question after all that is, does the School Nutrition 

Association support a further expansion of the fruit and vegetable 

program? 

Ms. JOHNSON. Absolutely, Senator. 

Ms. JONEN. Senator, it’s almost as though you were a plant in 

our audience yesterday. We had so many of our School Nutrition 

Association colleagues who are in States who do not have the opportunity to participate in the fresh fruit and vegetable program 

who are saying, what about me. I’m in Illinois and I would say, 

what about me? We can maybe scoot across the river into Iowa and 

pick your pocket a bit. That’s a wonderful program that has a great 

potential. It needs money. If you are so inclined, we would be most 

happy to expand that program to every State in the country. 

Senator HARKIN. God bless you. It’s about 35 cents, less than 35 

cents per child. That’s for two servings a day. That’s a pretty good 

investment. I thank you for that, and I thank you for support of 

and I hope that we can keep this moving. I know we can’t do it 

overnight. I understand it. If we can keep this momentum and 

keep more and more States coming in—Mississippi just came online last year and from everything I’ve heard it’s just been a resounding success in Mississippi too. We just need to keep expanding it. 

Thank you all very much. 

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I apologize I have to leave. 

The CHAIRMAN. That’s quite all right. Thank you for your keen 

attention, Senator Harkin, to this issue. I look forward to working 

hand in hand with you, as we always do on the Agriculture Committee in a bipartisan way, to make sure that we further promote 

the issues which we’ve talked about today. In addition to having 

a wife and a daughter who are teachers, I have a son-in-law in 

Georgia who’s a vegetable farmer, so I’m particularly intrigued. 

He’s in Georgia. 

Senator HARKIN. Georgia is coming on board pretty soon. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Leahy. 

Senator LEAHY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let me brag about 

my grandchildren. I happen to have the pictures. 

16

The CHAIRMAN. We will trade. 

STATEMENT OF HON. PATRICK LEAHY, A U.S. SENATOR FROM 

VERMONT 

Senator LEAHY. In the nutrition area, and I am not going to ask 

questions, I just want to make a short comment. Senator Cornyn 

and I are holding a hearing on joint legislation we have over in Judiciary. 

I mention that because there are a whole lot of issues, no matter 

what you read in the paper, that transcend partisan politics. Nutrition is one of them. 

Senator Dole was here earlier. She and her husband always had 

an interest in this. In fact, as many of you know, there have been 

a lot of pieces of Dole/Leahy and Leahy/Dole legislation over the 

years as there was before Dole/McGovern or McGovern/Dole. There 

still is. 

Senator McGovern and Senator Dole were down at the White 

House about 5 years ago to talk about their plans for a school 

lunch program in Africa, something that would have tremendous 

help in many of these countries because you have not only boys 

going to school because they could get fed, but you have girls going 

to school and the societal changes that would come out of that. 

I remember that, Mr. Chairman, because they were both standing there speaking at the podium, the seal of the President of the 

United States in front of it. President Clinton was waiting to speak 

after them. Bob Dole turns to him and he says, Mr. President, 

George and I are going to stay right here. You just stand back 

there. We like it with this seal. 

It is when we work together is when we find what we can do. 

We are talking about the budget on the floor and I am given reason 

to pause at the comment by some in Congress about the intention 

to place the burden of heavy budget cuts on food assistance programs to the expense of low income families. 

These are tough economic times. When people lose jobs and their 

incomes decline, programs like food stamps and school lunch end 

up, as you know, with increased participation. These programs do 

exactly what they were designed to do, support Americans in time 

of need of one of the most fundamental of life’s necessities, food. 

I want to make sure that when people are talking about making 

cuts to the program that they understand the typical food stamp 

recipient is a child, is a child. The food stamp program delivers 

more food assistance to children than all of the other Federal nutrition programs. 

The school lunch program is also a crucial part of the food safety 

net. One of the hallmarks of this committee is to be a responsible 

steward of the food stamp and child nutrition program. Because of 

bipartisan cooperation and strong leadership, the food stamp error 

rate is the lowest in the program’s history. 

We streamlined administration of the program by eliminating 

food stamp coupons in favor of electronic benefit cards, which can 

only be used for food. Last year, working together, we reauthorized 

WIC and the school meals program. We strengthened the integrity 

while protecting the eligibility of low income children. 

17

When you talk about getting savings from waste, fraud and 

abuse, it’s not in those programs. We have worked hard together 

to ensure the dollar is spent on food assistance and not spent on 

waste. 

A piece of legislation that I sponsored a number of years ago on the WIC program has saved the taxpayers over $17 billion. $17 billion. We make these programs work. There is unmet food needs in 

this country. 

I worry very much about the wealthiest, most powerful nation on 

earth. One of the few—certainly about the only powerful nation 

that has the ability to feed itself and have billions of dollars worth 

of food left over for export. We spend billions of dollars on fad diets 

in this country. We spend billions of dollars in throwing away 

waste food. To have hunger in America is immoral. It is not a political issue. It is immoral. It violates every precept. 

No matter what religion you might belong to, I guarantee you 

one of the precepts of the religion is to feed the hungry, and we 

should be doing that. 

Senator Dole pointed out that for many children, the 40 cents required for a reduced price meal too often means they cannot afford 

to buy a school lunch. Now 40 cents does not seem like a lot to us, 

but for those children and their families, it can be a great hurdle. 

I appreciate the comments of the School Nutrition Association regarding the need for expanding the Lugar Pilot to make it easier 

for sponsors to participate in the summer food service program. It 

helped children in my state of Vermont considerably. 

For children who rely on eating at school during the academic 

year, summer vacation can be a long and stressful 3 months, and 

the summer feed programs would help a lot. 

I am glad to see funds for nutrition education high on it on the 

School Nutrition Association agenda. Senator Lugar and Senator 

Harkin and I have been working for years to improve the nutritional quality of the food available to our children in school. 

Some of these are efforts in progress, like reducing the unhealthy 

foods in schools and, as Senator Harkin was saying, the fresh fruits 

and vegetables. We have come a long way. We have a long way to 

go. When we are going to provide nutritious food, we ought to provide nutritious education. It is a good time to start it. 

I met earlier this morning with members of the Vermont School 

Nutrition Association. I am always delighted when they come down 

here. They have been a great help to me and my staff, as had Marshall Matz, who is in the audience. They have helped a great deal. 

We are in this together. It is our children we’re talking about. 

My children are grown but I see the next generation in my grandchildren and my neighbor’s children. I cannot help but think, and 

I come from a low income part of our state, I cannot help but think 

though, think about not just dollars and cents. Think of this as 

something that touches our morality and conscience as a nation. 

We are blessed with so much. We are blessed with so much, how 

can we ever explain it to our conscience, to our maker, that we will 

leave hungry people in America. That is a shame and it is something we must always work and trying to stop. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for having this hearing. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Leahy. 

18

You can see from the comments from all of us up here how much 

we appreciate the great work you do and how much respect we 

have for this program. 

As we go through both the budget process as well as the appropriations process, we look forward to continuing a dialogue with 

the School Nutrition Association, and we think your input, your 

counsel and your advice. 

Obviously, we are in very difficult times from a budget deficit 

perspective, but I am very pleased that the President did recognize 

how valuable these programs are. Hopefully we can continue down 

the road of providing additional funding for you. 

The record is going to remain open for an additional 5 days for 

anyone who wishes to file a statement. Unless there is anything 

further, we are going to conclude this hearing. 

Again, thank you, ladies, for being here. I thank all of you in the 

audience for the terrific work you do for the future of America, 

which is our children. God bless you. 

[Whereupon, at 11:01 a.m., the committee was adjourned.] 

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A P P E N D I X

MARCH 15, 2005

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