Addressing policy challenges to summer meal access this year

During the past two years as COVID-19 impacted schools and work, afterschool and summer learning programs stepped up by helping to provide meals to children and families in need. Last spring 57 percent of programs were providing meals to families at sites or through delivery; and last summer 65 percent of programs provided on-site snack or meals to students, according to the Afterschool Alliance program provider tracking survey.

Many programs were able to make nutritious meals available to students because of Summer Food Program and CACFP Afterschool Meal flexibility waivers provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) through authority granted by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act passed in March 2020. Those waivers are set expire to June 30, 2022, even though ongoing staffing and supply chain challenges have continued to make traditional meal service exceedingly difficult for many programs and schools. Without the authority from Congress to extend child nutrition waivers, many programs that have had the flexibility to serve all children in need in their community will likely have to scale back their meal service.   

Last week, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Senate Afterschool Caucus Co-Chair Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) sought to address the challenges anticipated this summer by introducing the Support Kids Not Red Tape Act. The legislation would enable children to maintain continued access to child nutrition programs as families, schools, afterschool and summer programs, and child care providers recover from and respond to the economic, health, and educational fallout from the pandemic.

Congress previously gave the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) the authority to issue nationwide child nutrition waivers through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which has allowed school nutrition programs, local government agencies, and nonprofit organizations to keep feeding children in the face of numerous challenges such as school closures, virtual learning, and the need to social distance. A recent USDA survey found that nearly 90 percent of school districts used the Seamless Summer Option (SSO) waiver to serve meals for the school year 2021-2022, which allows schools to offer all students meals at no charge and has provided higher reimbursement rates which have been needed to support nutrition finances during the pandemic. Similarly, community-based programs have struggled with increased food costs, shortage of key meal items, and staffing shortages.

The Afterschool Alliance and nearly 2,000 national, state, and local organizations from every state across the country, and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have urged Congress to swiftly extend USDA authority to issue nationwide waivers for the Child Nutrition Programs beyond this school year. Without Congressional action, the waivers are set to expire on June 30, 2022. 

The bipartisan Support Kids Not Red Tape Act would allow USDA to equip program providers with the flexibilities needed to meet the rise in food insecurity and supply them with much-needed relief by allocating additional funding to support nutrition finances. The legislation has 50 co-sponsors including most Democratic Senators in addition to Sens. Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Collins (R-Maine), signaling the urgent need to extend USDA waiver authority as families and the nation recover from the pandemic. Quick action by Congress to pass this legislation is needed to reach families as they continue to face the economic hardships of the pandemic this fall, and to help programs providers who are currently making plans for summer meals.