The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
April 17, 2008
As the cost of milk, grains and fresh produce increases, schools nationwide are struggling to provide healthy meal options for students, the Washington Post reports. Although the federal government reassesses its school meal budget annually to ensure underserved children continue to receive healthy lunches, some school officials say that recent federal subsidies have not kept pace with increases in the cost of providing nutritional meals. The U.S. Department of Agriculture currently provides $2.47 per lunch to help schools serve free meals to children, marking a 3 percent increase over last year's funding. Across the same year, however, milk and bread prices rose roughly 17 percent and 12 percent, respectively.