How Does School Food Work in Washington, DC?
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a program that provides money for schools to serve school meals. It is housed in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and was started in 1946. The NSLP reimburses schools for serving lunches to children each school day. Schools are reimbursed for each lunch that they serve which meet nutrition and calorie requirements set by the USDA. The funding schools receive per meal is tied to the amount of low-income children at the school. Children below a certain income threshold do not have to pay for their meals, or pay a reduced price for their meals. Find out more in this NSLP Q&A from the USDA.
The Office of the State Superintendent’s (OSSE) Wellness and Nutrition Services Department oversees the NSLP (and other federal feeding programs) in the District of Columbia. Public, public charter, and private schools can apply to participate in the National School Lunch Program if they meet the federal requirements (but are not required to do so). Schools that do not participate in the National School Lunch Program can still serve meals and charge students for those meals, but they are not have to comply with the NSLP requirements and do not receive funding from the government. OSSE makes sure that schools participating in NSLP are in compliance with NSLP nutrition and food safety regulations, oversees the contracts that schools enter into with food service management companies, and distributes their NSLP reimbursements.
OSSE distributes reimbursements to what are called “School Food Authorities” (SFA’s). In Washington, DC currently, there are about 65 SFA’s that participate in the National School Lunch Program. Four are private schools, about 60 are public charter schools, and one SFA is the D.C. Public Schools (all 122 of them).
SFA’s can purchase foods and prepare meals that comply with the NSLP food safety and nutrition requirements and receive federal reimbursements directly. Or schools can contract with a Food Service Management Company to have meals prepared by that vendor. This means that the school gets reimbursed for each meal they serve that meets the NSLP requirements, and the schools use that money to fulfill their contractual obligations to their vendor. For example, DCPS has a Food Service Management Company (or vendor) that prepares meals for all DCPS students. DCPS receives federal reimbursements, and in turn pays Chartwells School Dining Services to prepare and serve all of the approximately 60,000 meals per day (breakfast and lunch) in 122 public schools in the District.
Public charter schools and private schools that participate in the NSLP typically work with Food Service Management Companies as well, and only a few prepare their own meals on site. There are 57 public charter schools in Washington, DC, that participate in the National School Lunch Program, serving about 28,000 students.
School Food Focus, in collaboration with the C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems, have developed materials to help us understand the complex school food system. Click each link to read the full PDF
1) The Cost of School Lunch
2) USDA Commodity Foods in School Lunch
Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) School Food Cost Study
The study examined the reported and unreported costs of producing National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) meals during School Year (SY) 2005- 06.
Chartwells Food and Nutrition Services Contract
This document is the contract between DCPS and Chartwells School Dining Services to serve meals for DCPS schools.
Food Facts: National School Lunch Program in DC
All facts are from 2009
National School Lunch Program Participation: 44,579 students
Total Lunches Served: 7,462,764 lunches
School Breakfast Participation: 20,431 students
Total Breakfasts Served: 3,528,972 breakfasts
Cost & Reimbursement
Students are eligible for “free” meals if their family’s income falls below 135% of the Federal Poverty Level. Students are eligible for “reduced price” meals if their family’s income falls between 135 and 185% of the Federal Poverty Level. Students must pay full price for school meals if they are above 185% of the Federal Poverty Level. Breakfast is free for all students in the District of Columbia.
Schools get reimbursed $2.70 for every free student lunch served and $1.74 for each free breakfast served.
Schools get reimbursed $2.30 for each reduced price student lunch served.
Schools get reimbursed 27 cents for every paid lunch.
D.C. Public School Meals
There are 44,275 students enrolled in DCPS. On average, 70% of students participate in the school lunch program, and about 30% participate in the school breakfast program.
Of those 44,275 students:
28,300 (63%) receive Free Lunch
+
2,786 (6.3%) receive Reduced Lunch which will be FREE to students in the 2010/2011 school year.
=
31,086 (70.2%) students either on Free or Reduced Lunch
DCPS Meals Served & Participation Rates
On average there are:
• 12,600 daily breakfasts served
• 27,500 daily lunches served
• 9,400 daily snacks served
As students get older, participation in the school lunch program decreases:
Elementary Participation
Breakfast: 41.6% Lunch: 75.9%
Middle School Participation
Breakfast: 22.5% Lunch: 70.3%
High School Participation:
Breakfast: 12.5% Lunch: 45.1%
