Letter to the Hon. Sonny Purdue, Secretary of U.S. Department of Agriculture - Cornyn Pushes USDA to Continue Waivers for Texas Students' School Meal Flexibility

Letter

The Honorable Sonny Perdue
Secretary
United States Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Ave., SW
Washington, D.C. 20250
Dear Secretary Perdue,
As local school districts implement plans for the 2020-2021 school year, we write to
encourage you to continue to provide the flexibilities needed to enable school food authorities
and other (non-school) sponsor organizations to continue to offer meals through the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's (USDA'S) child nutrition programs.
We appreciate USDA's use of child nutrition program waiver authority, flexibility provided,
and work with state agencies, schools and non-school sponsoring organizations to provide
meals through various child nutrition programs when schools were unexpectedly closed in the
spring. We also applaud the extension of these flexibilities through the summer months.
As the school year begins, the challenges brought on by the COVID emergency persist. We
encourage continued use of the child nutrition program waiver authority ably used thus far to
assist school food authorities and non-school sponsoring organizations who work
collaboratively to provide children meals while schools explore various and blended models of
in-person and virtual classroom sessions. USDA's efforts to provide regulatory flexibility for
2020-2021 school meal programs and the Child and Adult Care Food Program regarding meal
patterns, meal-times, non-congregate feeding, parent and guardian meal pick-up, and "offer vs.
serve" requirements are examples of using this authority to reassure families and schools in
recent weeks.
During this COVID emergency, we ask USDA to utilize program flexibilities, grants or
reimbursements that assist school food authorities with procuring, preparing, and serving
meals in a manner consistent with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
COVID-19 school re-opening guidelines and that support non-school sponsors providing
meals to children on remote-learning days or when in-classroom learning is unavailable.
Many schools and families are currently determining their plans for the upcoming school
year, including plans for school meals. We ask you and the USDA team to continue
utilizing child nutrition program waivers that Congress provided in a manner consistent
with existing authorities and program objectives.
Sincerely,

Source