The Healthy Schools Act of 2009 was recently signed into law, and will go into effect for the 2010/2011 school year.  The Act requires schools to serve healthy, local foods whenever possible, among other initiatives designed to improve the health and well-being of D.C. schoolchildren and “green” D.C. schools.

• Download a copy of the Final “Enrolled” version of the Healthy Schools Act here.
• Visit Councilmember Mary Cheh’s Healthy Schools Act website to learn more.
• Listen to Councilmember Mary Cheh and D.C. Farm to School Network Coordinator Andrea Northup on the Kojo Nnamdi Show.
• Scroll down for a summary of the Public Hearing on March 26th.

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Farm to School in the Healthy Schools Act

The Healthy Schools Act aims to improve school meals in public and public charter schools across the District.  Schools will receive an extra 10 cents per meal for meeting nutrition, food quality, and food access standards defined in the bill.  Download this PDF Visual summarizing how the Healthy Schools Act impacts school meals, and providing more details about incentives for schools for compliance.

With respect to Farm to School specifically, the Healthy Schools Act requires that schools:

1. Serve fresh, locally-grown foods in school meals whenever possible;
2. Report where foods (agricultural products) served in school meals comes from;
3. Collaborate with state agencies and community partners to educate about and promote farm to school programs (at least one celebratory Farm to School Week each year); and
4. Assist the Office of the State Superintendent of Education with a report on farm to school programs each year.

For schools that comply with the requirements for school meals outlined in the PDF document above, they will receive an extra 5 cents for each meal served that contains at least one fresh, locally-grown meal component.

For the purposes of the bill, “fresh” or “unprocessed” is defined by the USDA as agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables, dairy products, etc. that retain their inherent character. These foods can be cooled, refrigerated, frozen, peeled, sliced, diced, cut, chopped, shucked, ground, dried, dehydrated, washed, subject to high water pressure or “cold pasteurized”, packaged, vacuum packed, bagged, or pasteurized (in the case of milk) and still qualify as “unprocessed.”

“Locally-grown” is defined as grown in Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, West Virginia, Pennsylvania,  North Carolina, and New Jersey.  Preference is given to foods grown in Washington, DC, Maryland or Virginia.

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How was the Healthy Schools Act developed, passed and funded?

You can track the Healthy Schools Act through City Council HERE and learn more about how a bill becomes a law HERE.

Councilmember Mary Cheh, who serves as Chair of the Committee on Government Operations and the Environment, decided to gather community input regarding a law that would improve the health and well-being of the District’s school children and ‘greening’ the D.C. public schools.  The D.C. Farm to School Network was among the many organizations and individuals that gave their input and brainstormed ideas for components of the bill that could both support successful local health and wellness initiatives, and incentivize new ones.

The ideas for the Healthy Schools Act were drafted on paper and passed around to organizations and individuals for more input.  The document contained the basic ideas of what the bill would cover, without implementation details or cost considerations.  It was then formulated into a bill, incorporating stakeholder feedback and suggestions.

Council Member Mary Cheh and Council Chairman Vincent Gray introduced the bill jointly and filed it with the Secretary to the Council on December 9, 2009.  Thus, the document became an official bill (or proposed law) entitled the Healthy Schools Act of 2009.

Chairman Gray then referred this bill to the Committee on Government Operations and the Environment.  Since Mary Cheh is the chair of that Committee, her office was able to make further changes to the bill and solicit more community input.  Beginning in January, the Committee convened a series of informal working group meetings with interested stakeholders about each topic in the Healthy Schools Act.  The working group meetings covered each of the five sections of the Act – School Nutrition, Farm to School, Health Education, Physical Activity, and the School Environment.  A variety of community members, non-profit organizations, state agencies and others convened to weigh in on the practical considerations of the bill’s language and implementation.

On March 26th, the Committee on Government Operations and the Environment and the Committee of the Whole conducted a joint hearing on the Bill.  The Committees received testimony from residents and government officials in support of and against the Bill.  A few weeks later, the Committee on Government Operations and the Environment conducted a formal mark-up (and vote) on the revised bill, followed by a mark-up (and vote) by the Committee of the Whole.  Afterward, the Council voted on the bill twice.  The bill went to the Mayor to sign, and then 30 legislative days later (because the U.S. Congress did not oppose) the bill became a Law.

Funding for the bill was secured by an expansion of the District’s 6% sales tax to soda and other sweetened beverages.  That funding was secured by a vote on May 26th when the Council approved the FY2011 D.C. budget.

Learn more about the Act on Mary Cheh’s Healthy Schools Act website.

Learn more about the legislative process and the DC City Council.

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Healthy Schools Act Hearing

On March 26th, 2010, the D.C. City Council held a public hearing where any interested individual or organization could testify before the Councilmembers in support of or against the Healthy Schools Act.  A number of community members, non-profit organizations, and others testified in support of farm to school and school meal reform during the hearing – including parents, teachers, food service providers, economists, doctors and other advocates (even a watermelon farmer from Delaware!).

Pictures of Lauren Biel and Ed Bruske testifying:

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