What Is The National School Lunch Program?

In 1790, American born physicist Benjamin Thompson began a combined program of teaching and feeding children in Munich, Germany. By the 1850s, some European countries were experimenting with state-subsidized school lunch programs. At the turn of the century, there were programs in England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Norway and Switzerland.

In England, the 1905 Education (Provision of Meals) Act resulted in part from the public disclosure that three out of every five men seeking enlistment in the army were found to be physically unfit, primarily because of a lack of proper nourishment.

The 1904 book, Poverty, by Robert Hunter, was instrumental in popularizing U.S. efforts to feed hungry, needy children in school.

The Great Depression resulted in farm products spoiling due to the lack of a market. Millions of children could not afford to buy lunch at school. Congress responded in 1935 with a measure designed to help both agriculture and the school lunch program.

Public Law 320 (74th Congress, 24 August 1936) created the Commodity Donation Program. The USDA Secretary was charged with "remov[ing] price-depressing surplus foods from the market through government purchase and dispos[ing] of them through exports and domestic donations to consumers in such a way as not to interfere with normal sales."

The Work Projects Administration (WPA) was created in 1935 to alleviate America's high unemployment rate by providing employment on public works projects. Work in the school lunch program was part of the WPA Community Service Division, providing gainful employment for women. By March 1941, WPA school lunch programs operated in all states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

The WPA closed its doors in 1943 as U.S. manufacturing and food processing facilities geared up for World War II. However, federal support for school lunches continued through WWII.

Section 2 of the Act:
It is hereby declared to be the policy of Congress, as a measure of national security, to safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation's children and to encourage the domestic consumption of nutritious agricultural commodities and other food, by assisting the States, through grants-in aid and other means, in providing an adequate supply of food and other facilities for the establishment, maintenance, operation and expansion of nonprofit school lunch programs.

The Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (part of Lyndon B. Johnson's legacy) expanded the school lunch program by integrating the Special Milk Program (initiated in 1954) and testing a pilot breakfast program. Amendments in 1968 established the Special Food Service Program for Children, funding meals for special summer programs.

The Committee on School Lunch Participation reported in April 1968 that fewer than 4 percent were able to get a free or reduced price school lunch. "Whether or not a child is eligible for a free lunch is determined not by any universally accepted formula, but by local decisions... And generally speaking, the greater the need of children from a poor neighborhood, the less the community is able to meet it."

Federal assistance in providing milk for school children began in 1940 in Chicago and New York. In July 1943, it ceased to operate as a separate program when it became part of the lunch program. The Special Milk Program was made a part of the Child Nutrition Act in 1966.

2004- P.L. 108-265, the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act, strengthened nutrition programs and promoted healthy choices among children. Specifically it required local wellness policies be designed and implemented at the local level and authorized the continuation and expansion of the Fruit and Vegetable Pilot Program.

Some reformers have called for an end to vending machines and fast-food (deep-fried) offerings.

Any public school, intermediate unit, charter school, area vocational technical or career technology school, public residential child care institution, and tax exempt non-public school or residential child care institution may apply to be an NSLP sponsor.

Children from families with incomes at or below 130% of the poverty level, and children in families receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and children in families receiving food stamp benefits are eligible for free lunches. Children in families whose income is between 130% and 185% of the poverty level are eligible for reduced price lunches.