April 23, 2004
Schools Chief Jack O'Connell Releases Data on School
Lunch Nutrition: Calls for Healthy Options for Students
Additional Study Shows Link Between Student Health and Academic Achievement
SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today released the results of a survey of the nutritional value of school lunches.
"For many of our students a school lunch is the only healthy meal of the day," O'Connell. "This survey shows us that while most California schools are doing a good job in providing healthy meals, we can do better."
The survey data, reviewing lunches at approximately half of all California school districts over the last five years, indicates that most California school lunches provide the levels of protein, calcium, and vitamins required by the federal government. But only about 50 percent kept the fat content of school lunches within Federal guidelines. An additional 30 percent of schools surveyed were close to meeting the fat content standard, but did exceed it by 2 to 5 percent. Survey results are available by district at School Meal Nutrition Analysis Data, 1998-2003 - Food Programs (Coming Soon).
O'Connell stressed that school lunches are a healthier option than many of the alternatives that kids often choose, like fast food or highly processed prepared meals.
"My hope is that schools will use the data from this survey to learn best practices from schools doing the best job serving nutritional meals," O'Connell. "While we need to work on making all school lunches healthy, we also need to encourage more kids to take advantage of school lunch programs."
More than three million California children are eligible for free and reduced-price meals at school. But only two million of these students received lunch at school during the 2002-03 school year. If all students who are eligible for free and reduced-price lunches participated in the school lunch program, California would receive approximately $375 million in additional federal funding every year. Those funds could be used to improve menus, cafeteria facilities, and access to healthy school meals.
To provide all students with healthy options in school lunches, O'Connell called on the Governor, the Legislature, the California Department of Education (CDE) staff, schools and parents to work together to increase participation in existing school lunch programs. He also directed the Nutrition Services staff at CDE to publicize "best practice" models for successful school lunch programs and to continue to provide startup grants for school breakfast programs. O'Connell also pledged to continue to work with Congress to make more fruits and vegetables available to schools through new and existing programs.
To stress the need for healthy lunch options for students, O'Connell pointed out that research shows that when children feel safe, exercise, and eat well, then they perform better in school. The nonprofit research agency WestEd reported in a recent study that in the California schools where more students engaged in some physical activity and healthy eating, the schools saw greater subsequent gains in test scores than other schools. The study also found that when students were undernourished or skipped breakfast, this had an adverse effect on test scores. For more information on the study, No Child Left Behind: How are Student Health Risks and Resilience Related to Academic Progress of Schools, please visit http://www.wested.org/chks/pdf/api2f.pdf (Outside Source)(PDF; 2,149KB; 90pp.) .
Because childhood obesity has such serious health and academic implications for California children, O'Connell has established a task force on obesity that includes experts on school health and nutrition. He has also issued the Superintendent's Challenge to schools to encourage them to work harder at keeping students physically fit.
