Every day, nearly one in every nine school-age children faces hunger. For many of these children, their government-provided school lunch is their only guaranteed meal. For children who qualify for free and reduced lunch at school, options can be limited, both in terms of what is available to suit one’s palette and also nutritionally,
Across the nation, nearly 20%–14.7 million–children are considered obese by the Center for Disease Control. Furthermore, less than 1% of children’s diets are considered “Ideal Quality” by the National Institute of Health.
School lunches provide all students with access to food to get them through the day. Due to state and federal regulations, schools are required to provide school lunches to all students. However, lunches are only free to students who qualify for free or reduced lunch.
In 2020, lunch was free for all students nationwide for schools that opted into a federal assistance program to counter the abnormal costs school districts faced with COVID-19.
However, for over a year now, that federal aid has expired, and a very limited amount of students qualify for free school lunches. This leaves students with varying economic backgrounds with just a few options: they may bring a lunch, pay for school lunch, or, in some cases, not eat.
The debate over how and what schools provide students has been lively for decades. There are currently eight states that have implemented universal free school lunches, and just two that have implemented universal school breakfasts for students of any economic background.
The Free and Reduced Lunch program was created in 1946 by President Harry Truman. This program provides students whose families make less than $39,000 annually with more affordable meals at school. Some leaders claim the current program leaves many low-income students without food, since many families may not be able to afford packed lunches or school lunches but also don’t qualify for Free and Reduced School Lunch.
In recent years, elected officials and lawmakers have supported attempts to make school lunches for all students free. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers proposed a Free Universal School Lunch Program in his 2023-25 state budget, but the measure was cut by Republicans on the state’s Joint Committee on Finance.
To some nutritional experts, how we fund school lunches is just one part of the decade-long problem. What often gets less attention is what we feed students in our schools.
Currently, the United States Department of Agriculture sets nationwide standards on what can and can’t be served as a part of the National School Lunch Program.
The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board recently published an article applauding the USDA’s Proposed Updates to the School Nutrition Standards that were unveiled in November 2023.
The Editorial states, “The USDA’s goal is to more closely align school meal standards with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which details ingredients for a healthy diet. For example, these guidelines call for limiting added sugars to less than 10% of daily calories. In comparison, added sugars provide about 17% of calories in school breakfasts and about 11% in school lunches. Currently, the USDA does not have guidelines limiting sugar in school meals.”
The concern of what is fed to students is nothing new to SHS junior Brianna Woelke, who’s chosen to skip the lunch line and à la carte options provided by SHS.
Woelke is not alone in this stance, SHS students express a need for a total revamping of our school lunches beyond SHS, SASD, and even Wisconsin. We need a food fix.
“I’m grateful for all the lunch ladies, and food service staff, but I see a need for a greater change in the system,” Woelke says

SASD at the Table

Each day when the lunch bell rings and students flood the halls headed to converse with friends, work on homework, and most importantly, eat, many students head to the school cafeteria’s lunch line. Here, students can select from a wide array of options. On any given day, students can choose from over 15 entrees and sides. These meals have a wide variety of ingredients, and often far exceed all state and federal guidelines, but some still worry they’re not what’s best to fuel our kids. The menu varies weekly and can include dishes like Popcorn Chicken Bowl, cheese, pepperoni, or sausage pizza, or Honey Mustard Ham Wrap.
The production of these meals is independently contracted to Taher, a Minnesota-based food service company that provides school lunches to all of SASD. Taher states their goal is to “Provide high quality, safe and healthy meal options to every student.”
Each year, SASD approves a food service contract for the upcoming school year, for this year, as well as many prior, SASD has chosen to stay with Taher. Erica Pickett, SASD’s Director of Business Services leads the district’s involvement in choosing and maintaining a healthy relationship with Taher, or whoever provides the district’s meal services.
When creating and approving a food service contract, Pickett explains many variables are taken into account, but the district’s number one priority is to provide students with highly nutritious meals.
“Our main focus when contracting is to be able to provide well-rounded nutritious meals to students within reasonable cost guidelines. The district is not concerned about making a profit with the food service program but ensuring that it is self-sustaining,” Pickett says.
When creating a Request for Proposal (RFP) to food service companies, SASD is limited in what a contract can and can’t be included by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Pickett explains how DPI has very specific requirements around selection and how often we go to RFP to select a food service contractor.
Once SASD goes through the RFP process and adopts a contract with a food service provider, almost all responsibilities are transferred to that company, in this case, Taher. Currently, all cafeteria employees are independently employed by Taher, not SASD. Pickett also notes that all menu planning and food selection is done by Taher with no input from SASD, but all menu items are still subject to USDA, and DPI standards.
“This process (selecting menu options) is handled exclusively by Taher. Menu items are dictated by the FDA in regards to nutrition and menu requirements. If we have concerns, we definitely work with Taher to address them and see what alternative might be available,” Pickett says.
SASD has the ability to change its food service provider, but currently, the district is satisfied with the quality of service and nutritional diversity provided by Taher.
“As a district we are very happy with Taher food services. The food requirement piece is really dictated by the FDA but the staff is also very important as they represent the face of the meal program,” Pickett says.
When discussing the strict set of standards all schools and food service providers must abide by, not all nutritional and educational leaders agree. After years of criticism of poor nationwide standards, the USDA has proposed a new and improved set of School Nutrition Standards. The set of changes varies, but some to highlight are:
“First, the rule proposes limiting added sugars in certain products beginning in fall 2025, targeting the most common sources of added sugars in school meals: breakfast cereals, flavored milk, grain-based desserts, and yogurt.

Then, in fall 2027, the rule proposes limiting overall added sugars across the weekly menu to less than 10% of calories per meal, on average, to better align meals with the dietary guidelines,” according to the USDA.
Another change addresses concerns over the amount of whole grains served in school lunches. The change would allow schools to serve non-whole, enriched grain foods–like refined, enriched pasta or flour tortillas–one day per school week. The other days, schools would be required to serve food that falls into the grain-rich criteria, meaning a product must contain at least 50% whole grains; the other grains be enriched. Any other grain products offered that are not whole grain-rich must be enriched. The USDA hopes to alleviate concerns over unhealthy school lunches with these proposed changes.

Growing Together

At the center of the debacle are students. At SASD, students have the option to eat on or off campus. SHS junior Brianna Woelke shares why she chooses to skip the cafeteria and bring her own lunch. “I feel like the food is not that nutritious or healthy, and with having type one diabetes, I want a more balanced meal. When you look at some of the food you can see the grease, even the salads aren’t that healthy, and even if they aren’t unhealthy, they aren’t super nutritious.”
Woelke says she’d consider eating school lunch if some changes were made to what is served to fit her personal diet.
“If the school started offering more locally sourced and diverse food options, that fit everyone’s nutritional needs, [I would eat it],” Woelke said.
Woelke points to other examples of where unhealthy food is normalized across the school.
“Even when you look at a la carte and vending machines, all the options are unhealthy. You see chips, cookies, and other sugary sodas, instead of more healthy alternatives. ”
Another SHS junior, E Olson, who qualifies for free lunches, shares their opinion on why they choose to eat the school’s lunch out of convenience but would like to see changes nonetheless.
“I don’t have the resources to make lunches at home, plus, I just don’t want to,” Olson said.
Olson believes that the food offered at the school suffices for what they need, but it’s not exactly high quality nutritiously.
“There seems to be a lot of carbs, all of the time,” Olson said, “[and] the á la carte items tend to be sugary.”
To begin the shift toward more locally sourced and nutritionally balanced diets, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has launched the Farm to School Program. Brittnay Zerbe is a Nutrition Education Consultant who has been working with DPI and the Farm to School program. The Farm to School program works with local school districts to encourage locally sourced agriculture as part of their school lunches. “One of our main goals is to connect our schools to local farmers and producers so that they can get more local, fresh produce into their school lunches,” Zerbe said.
Zerbe works alongside Jeff Magenelli, the Farm to School specialist for DPI. Their team has been working to market the program to school districts, families, and communities across the state to encourage more investment in farm-to-school initiatives and showcase the programs already in place.
The Farm to School program hopes to help school districts build sustainable long-term relationships with local farms due to the nutritional, economic, and environmental impacts.
“(The Farm to School program) shortens the supply chain, it keeps local dollars in local economies, and it gives farmers another market for their product,” Magenelli says.
Zerbe recalls her conversations with students and school staff after having launched farm-to-school initiatives. She says students can always tell a quality difference when eating locally grown foods. “Our students are saying that they are noticing a huge quality improvement in their lunches with these local items. Things are fresher, they taste better, they’re happier, and they’re healthier too,” Zerbe says.
To highlight some of their work across the state, Zerbe and Magenelli point to one example of their work in Oregon School District, which utilizes one of the initiatives the Farm to School team manages. Specifically, the Oregon school district has been able to build school gardens, and they have also incorporated a lot of local products like local beef.
“They make walking tacos and other products, and that comes in raw from a farmer local to the community. They have also been utilizing farmer markets in the summer to feature fresh produce,” Zerbe says.
Like Oregon, SASD hopes to continue and grow partnerships with local farms. In the past, SASD has worked with Blue Moon Farms. Most recently, SASD has been with Odyssey Farms, a local pork, beef, and dairy farm in Sun Prairie to provide yogurt for SASD.
School districts statewide have been experimenting with unique ways to incorporate local foods into their school lunches.
“Schools are using hydroponic systems to grow their lettuce for school lunches […] Howard-Suamico School District utilizes some of our programs, and they just raised local turkeys for their school lunch program. We’ve even recently seen the food service director from Holman who has a 70-tree apple orchard right on their school grounds,” Magenelli says.
Finally, Farm to Table hopes to expand their program by taking advantage of state and federal grants to further their existing programs, and also partner with more farms across the state to grow their outreach.
“We’re hoping to see more and more. We’re noticing that students and parents are valuing farm to school meals, and we’re hoping to see more local food from grains, meat, produce, and dairy in the school lunches,” Zerbe says.

Planting a New Way

To make monumental changes in the school lunch system, local leaders are looking to plant a new way forward and reimagine what school lunches look like. Wisconsin State Representative Franchesca Hong of Madison isn’t new to the food service industry. As a local restaurant owner, politician, and vocal advocate for universal healthy school meals, Hong is hopeful that Madison and Wisconsin can set an example for what a healthy, accessible, and equitable school lunch system can look like.
One of Hong’s defining legislative initiatives during her tenure as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly–representing parts of downtown Madison and the University of Wisconsin Madison–has been her work on a bill that would guarantee all K12 students in Wisconsin would have access to free, healthy government funded school lunches.
“As a mom, chef, and legislator, I know first-hand the importance of building community through food. And what must be our core value in Wisconsin is that no child should go hungry because a guardian in their life cannot afford a school meal,” Hong says.
With her background as a chef, Hong knows what benefits are tied to having a diverse, nutritious palate of food affordable, and accessible.
“In my time learning from local chefs, I learned about how integral and successful restaurants can be when they are dedicated to creating a better local food system. What being a chef has taught me is that mass production of any type of meal for hundreds of people is not an easy task. It requires not only the nurturing of our local ingredients but also the investment in production. Making sure we’re all part of the ecosystem that’s central to food.”
To many, Hong included, providing universal free school lunches is a critical first step in making school lunches more healthy and nutritious.
“When I first introduced this Healthy School Meals For All Bill, I thought, if we make this investment in feeding all kids all across Wisconsin, that we could take this important first step in ensuring that every kid is able to better learn because they aren’t hungry. That we would be taking the burden off of working parents, and that we can actually strengthen our local economies by encouraging more programming and contracting between local farms and schools,” Hong said.
Despite picking up support across the nation, Wisconsin Republican legislators still overwhelmingly oppose universal free school lunches.
Hong is disappointed that her “common sense” proposed legislation is being politicized by republican lawmakers in Wisconsin and is unlikely to be successful in the coming years. Hong thinks Republicans are apprehensive about her bill because they believe it costs too much, but Hong digresses. “I don’t think we should put a cost on feeding our kids.”
Despite this, Hong shares that even without statewide funding, local school districts are taking the first step at blurring the line between the lunchroom and the means of production. Schools are starting to form their own farm-to-table initiatives across the state to make school menus not only more nutritious but also more sustainable by partnering with local farms and orchards.
“MMSD has reinvested in improving school meals. We’re looking for ways to have more culturally relevant food and more variety for the students. But, unfortunately, it gets harder, because every school has different infrastructures about what they can provide. […] We’re also seeing partnerships with community organizations, like Rooted (A Madison-based organization committed to collaborations rooted in food, land, and learning) where there’s an investment in really teaching kids where food comes from.”
Hong also highlights other farm-to-school programs already in place in Dane County, and across the state.
“There’s a school district near Green Bay that was able to build a contract with a farm that grows vegetables. This not only supports the local farmers but also provides great food for the students.”
Hong believes these partnerships are critical in building long-term relationships between schools and their local economies, while subsequently providing healthy meals to students.
Although the proposed bill wouldn’t change any set standards, Hong believes it would still increase access to healthy school meals. Additionally, the bill funds more projects for school districts to start and grow farm-to-table programs, and invest in highly nutritious food service contracts.
“Having the Healthy School Meals for All Act passed would provide additional resources for these schools and help get people aware of investing in healthy school meals,” Hong said.
All in all, the need for healthy, affordable, and accessible school meals is an important, but often overlooked, step in supporting schools in Wisconsin.
“This is about nourishing kids so that they are in the best position to learn, to dream, to pursue their potential possibilities. We want to make sure every student is in a good position to be able to learn, and the best way to do that is to ensure that they have a nutritious meal at their school. This will be a game changer, but most importantly it will provide opportunities for all kids.”