Good for kids, bad for school budgets?

ROCK FALLS – Beginning next school year, the lunch on your school student’s tray will be healthier.

It might still have a slice of pizza, but the crust will be whole grain.

The fruits and vegetables will be in larger portions. And they’ll be fresh, rather than from a can.

But a healthier lunch for your child may also be more costly for the school district, and ultimately for you.

The government last month announced the first major overhaul of school meals in more than 15 years.

Under the new rules, pizza won’t disappear from lunch lines, but will be made with healthier ingredients. Entire meals will have calorie caps for the first time, and most trans fats will be banned. Sodium will gradually decrease over a 10-year period. Milk will have to be low in fat, and flavored milks will have to be nonfat.

The new guidelines require more fresh fruits and vegetables, which can be more costly than canned, said Carolyn Clifton, director of food services for the Rock Falls Elementary
School District.

“Sometimes it’s hard when you’re doing 1,000 lunches per day to have fruit,” she said. “Sometimes, when fruit comes in it’s not ripe yet. You always run into a problem when you’re bringing that in.”

The new federal guidelines affect school breakfasts and lunches.

For all age groups of students, fewer than 10 percent of a meal’s calories can come from saturated fats.

Schools are likely to do more cooking from scratch and hiding vegetables in casseroles, Clifton said.

The good thing about the guidelines, Clifton said, is they will introduce children to healthy foods they haven’t eaten before. But they probably won’t like the healthier fare right away, and they might just throw the wholesome foods away.

“You might see more waste on the trays,” she said. “It’ll take some adjustment.”

At Rock Falls Middle School, students choose between “offer vs. serve,” meaning they can decline items. Next year, however, when the new rules are implemented, students must take a fruit or vegetable. Elementary students will continue to have to take whole meals served to them, Clifton said.