Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I am pleased today to join my friend and
colleague from North Dakota, Senator Heitkamp, in introducing the
School Food Modernization Act to assist schools in providing healthier
meals to students throughout the country.

School meals play a vital role in the lives of our young people. More
than 30 million children participate in the National School Lunch
Program every school day. In Maine, 40 percent of children qualify for
free or reduced-price meals based on household income.

The food served at schools to these children affects their health and
well-being. Many children consume up to half their daily caloric intake
at school. In fact, children often get their most nutritious meal of
the day at school instead of at home. At the same time, too many of our
children are at risk of serious disease. One-third of the children in
this country are overweight or obese, which increases their risk for
heart disease, high blood pressure, Type 2 Diabetes and other chronic
diseases. These conditions may have a lifelong effect on their health
as they grow to adulthood.

In response to concerns about the health of our children, our schools
have stepped up to the plate. Nationwide, schools are working
diligently to meet the new U.S. Department of Agriculture standards and
serve healthier meals. For example, in the New Sweden Consolidated
School in Aroostook County, ME, food service manager Melanie Lagasse
prepares meals from scratch instead of opening cans or pushing a
defrost button. The school's 64 students, ranging from preschool to
eighth grade, have grown to relish the chicken stew, baked fish, and
meatloaf that she makes fresh.

Many schools, however, lack the right tools for preparing meals rich
in fresh ingredients and must rely on workarounds that are expensive,
inefficient, and unsustainable. Schools built decades ago lack the
tools and the infrastructure necessary beyond reheating and holding
food for meal service.

To serve healthier meals to their students, 99 percent of Maine
school districts need at least one piece of equipment and almost half,
48 percent, of districts need kitchen infrastructure upgrades. The
median equipment need per school is $45,000.

Even more costly would be making the required changes to
infrastructure. Forty-eight percent of Maine schools need some kind of
infrastructure change to serve healthy meals. For example, 41 percent
of schools need more physical space, 22 percent need more electrical
capacity, 21 percent need more plumbing capacity, and 19 percent need
more ventilation.

Add the equipment costs together with the infrastructure costs and it
is estimated that overall, $58.8 million would be needed just in Maine
to serve healthy meals to all of our students. That far exceeds the
$111,000 in grants that the USDA awarded Maine during the last two
fiscal years for new equipment.

Our bill authorizes loan guarantee assistance and grants for school
equipment and infrastructure improvements, thereby helping food service
personnel meet nutrition standards. First, it would establish a loan
guarantee assistance program within USDA to help schools acquire new
equipment to prepare and serve healthier, more nutritious meals to
students. School administrators and other eligible borrowers could
obtain Federal guarantees for 80 percent of the loan value needed to
construct, remodel, or expand their kitchens, dining, or food storage
infrastructure.

Second, the bill would provide targeted grant assistance to give
school administrators and food service directors the seed funding
needed to upgrade kitchen infrastructure or to purchase high-quality,
durable kitchen equipment such as commercial ovens, steamers, and
stoves.

Finally, to aid school food service personnel in meeting the
nutrition guidelines, the legislation would strengthen training and
provide technical assistance by authorizing USDA to provide support on
a competitive basis to highly qualified third-party trainers to develop
and administer training and technical assistance, including online
programs.

We need to start our school children off on the right food every day.
If they are going to be able to learn and compete, they need to be
healthy and their minds and bodies fully nourished. This bill will help
us achieve that goal.

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