Posted on 07/09/2013 8:52:12 AM PDT by Kaslin
As schools continue to grapple with the school lunch menu overhaul pushed by First Lady Michelle Obama, some are realizing their headache isn’t just from a lack of food.
The program involves way too much green -- and we’re not talking lettuce and brussel sprouts.
We mean the estimated $3.2 billion schools will have to find to implement the new federal regulations. Many schools are also losing money due the unpopular Obama menu.
“New school lunch regulations mean financial losses for Pittsfield Public Schools,” reported the Berkshire Eagle in Massachusetts.
The school district expects a program operating loss of more than $100,000 due to a required equipment upgrade, as well as fewer lunches and snacks being sold.
Congressman Todd Rokita, a member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, noted at a recent hearing, “Because the law requires students to take fruits and vegetables for lunch, even if they have no intention of eating them, schools are struggling with increased waste. After implementing the new standards a year early, one Florida school district estimated students threw out $75,000 worth of food.”
“At Dedham High School in Massachusetts, providing the required vegetables in 1500 meals each week costs the district about $111 a day -- but administrators report many students just throw the fresh vegetables right into the trash,” his statement read.
A New York district experienced a 50 percent decline in the number of student purchasing hot lunch.
“This decline in participation made it more difficult for the school to afford to serve lunches and breakfasts that met the federal meal requirements. As a result, the district’s food operation went $59,000 in the red and local leaders ultimately decided to opt-out of the National School Lunch Program,” Rokita said.
The USDA estimates implementation of the new guidelines will cost $3.2 billion over five years. Given that it’s a government estimate -- and if Obamacare is any guide, the cost for schools will likely be much higher.
And that’s before we have to start kicking more subsidies to the football team and cheer squad once they’re not allowed to do candy fundraisers anymore.
$3.2 billion! Well, BO could have gotten six Solyndras for that.
“Many schools are also losing money due the unpopular Obama menu.”
Entirely consistent with any Obama-originated plan: Taxes must go up. Isn’t this all part of the plan?
As usual, the Obamas support mandates and pass laws with absolutely no clue about the effects and consequences. Just so something “sounds” like they care...that’s all they are concerned about. Michelle has never, ever worried about anyone else but herself and her immediate family, her entire life. How can anyone really believe she gives a toot about what kids eat in school? It was just some trumped up “project” that the Obama people thought of to make it look like Michelle actually wanted to work as the wife of a president.
When Moochelle loses that ass and those man arms then she can tell me how to eat.
Um, just cause she’s married to the ROTUS doesn’t give her any authority to “implement” anything. Of course with federal funding at stake, the “suggestion” that schools implement her “ideas” is a given. Sorry damn state of affairs.
New laws should have a 2 year time limit...a trail period if you will. When they don't work, they just go away after a while. If they do work, make them permanent.
trail = trial
…bad news for the minorities the program is aimed at, because African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans have disproportionately high levels of lactose intolerance.
… The injection of greek yogurt into the lunch program is being pushed aggressively by Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, whose New York dairy farms stand to benefit from the explosion in use of the newly popular greek yogurt.
Did they factor in the cost of all the extra trash cans the schools will need for all the throwaway food?
Our son stopped buying school lunches after these modifications took place in his high school. He couldn’t get enough to eat without buying two meals. They also weren’t appetizing. When the food it so bad a 17 year old swimmer won’t eat it, you know it’s bad. Those kids burn some 10,000 calories per day and pretty much eat any time they’re not in the pool.
When did we get to a place where the First Lady orders what food our children eat at school? This woman is an angry hermaphrodite! Restore America!
To be fair school lunches were not any more appetizing back when I was in school. At reunions we sit around and talk about the time Jimmy Carter bailed out the turkey farmers, and we were served some form of reconstituted, processed turkey product nearly every day for a year and a half.
How did this crazy b-word ever get in charge of school lunches?
Will no one oppose her?
These are the same people who cried that republican budget’ cuts’ would starve school children. Not only aren’t the kids getting enough to eat, but we are paying more for the privilege.
There is prolly something in the Common Core that says schools have to comply with their advertising and marketing ploys- for favored businesses- OR get cut off from Federal money.
It is a great and evil plan the Dems have come up with to take over- and get rich.
In Jr. High, we actually had lunch ladies come in and prepare lunches from scratch, including baking cookies from scratch, which were huge and 5 cents each. The mashed potatoes were real and the meatloaf was delicious. But, this was in the 60’s.
Something new every day....
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