Child Nutrition Reauthorization Priorities

Every decade, Congress reauthorizes the law that governs the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs, referred to as the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act. The latest iteration of the law, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-296), expired on September 30, 2015, and presents Congress with an opportunity to provide some overdue updates to the legislation.

To assist Congress in this effort and build on the strengths from the current legislation, AASA's policy priorities for thie year's reauthorization fall into the following four buckets concerning:

1. increasing access to the federal school meals programs;
2. providing additional emergency relief funding to help school food operators continue to recover from the pandemic;
3. reducing the red tape and administrative burden associated with NSLO and SBP; and
4. maintaining the current sodium 1-target level, 50% enriched whole grain and flavored milk flexibilities as implemented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).