Thanks to advocacy efforts by members of the Council for American Private Education (CAPE), final regulations issued March 31 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) concerning hot lunch services offered by religious providers will not include a proposal that would have empowered students to leave school for another hot lunch site.
WCRIS is the state affiliate of CAPE, which is our voice on federal education programs and issues in Washington, D.C. and keeps us apprised of issues of concern. Victories like this are an example of why dual advocacy by CAPE and WCRIS is so essential to our schools.
According to CAPE’s monthly report, the final USDA rules included a positive response to concerns raised by several CAPE member organizations. Last fall, the coalition commented on proposed rules from eight federal departments and one agency concerning financial assistance to faith‐based social service providers.
With respect to rules governing federal meal programs in schools, the coalition argued that a proposal that in effect would empower students “to demand the services of another provider at an on-site location” was entirely unworkable, the CAPE report noted.
Thankfully, the USDA agreed. A preamble to the final rules states that “allowing students to leave the school campus to receive… school meal benefits from an alternate provider would be impractical, create a hardship for both the faith-based schools as well as alternate provider schools, and would represent a potentially hazardous situation for students.”
The department concluded that “the Child Nutrition Programs should be treated in the same manner as an indirect assistance program under these rules,” with benefits being provided “as a result of a ‘genuine and independent choice’ on the part of parents or guardians who chose to enroll children in a faith-based school as an alternative to a public school.”
In other words, once their parents enroll them in a faith-based school, students cannot elect to consume federal lunches or breakfasts at some other location, the CAPE report concluded.
