Can We Feed Kids Better? Rethinking School Meal Procurement
As the government shutdown enters its eighth week, federal child nutrition programs remain protected and are expected to continue operating in the near term. While the programs aren't affected by this shutdown, it has given us a moment to pause and rethink how we procure food for schools.
Every school day, 30 million American children depend on federally funded meals as a critical source of nutrition. We spend over $23 billion annually through programs like the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP). Yet despite this massive investment, 75–90% of school meals fail to meet all nutritional standards, and highly processed foods continue to dominate cafeteria trays across the country. The programs are designed to provide nutritious meals, but in practice, they fall far short.
We're not broke. The real issue? It's the paperwork. The Request for Proposal (RFP) system that governs school meal contracts is an education policy tool that nobody's paying attention to. It's bureaucratic and tedious, but this process quietly determines what ends up on 30 million lunch trays every single day. How can we implement new policies to help students meet their nutritional needs in addition to their academic needs?
How the Current System Fails Our Kids
School meal funding follows a complex path from federal reimbursements (currently $4.60 per free lunch) through state agencies to local districts, which then contract with vendors through competitive bidding. In theory, this process should ensure quality and value. In practice, it often delivers neither.
Schools are consistently seeking the lowest cost option. Federal procurement rules emphasize "cost-effectiveness," which cash-strapped districts typically interpret as the cheapest possible bid. A vendor offering compliant but mediocre meals at $2.80 per plate routinely beats competitors offering fresh, cooked options at $3.20—even though better nutrition reduces long-term healthcare costs by thousands of dollars per student. This false economy prioritizes short-term savings over children's health and educational outcomes.
A view into the top 10 (by enrollment) school systems’ food spend/student/day:
The numbers reveal where the money actually goes: only 40-50 cents of every meal dollar purchases food. The remainder disappears into labor costs, administrative overhead, equipment, storage, and vendor profit margins.
Market Concentration & Geographic Inequality
Three major food service companies—Chartwells, Sodexo, and Aramark—control most large district contracts nationwide. This market concentration stifles innovation, limits menu diversity, and reduces districts' negotiating power.
Where a child lives dramatically affects meal quality. NYC, NY spends $7.40 per meal while Hillsborough County, FL spends just $1.47. These disparities reflect differing state policies, local funding capacities, and operational efficiencies, but the result is the same: zip code determines nutrition quality. Every child deserves access to healthy meals regardless of their district's wealth or location.
The Real Cost of Poor Nutrition
This isn't just about lunch trays—it's about educational equity and public health. Research demonstrates that improved school nutrition correlates with 4% higher test scores. Students who eat well-balanced meals are more focused, better prepared to learn, and more likely to succeed academically.
Meanwhile, diet-related childhood obesity costs the U.S. healthcare system $14 billion annually. When we shortchange meal quality to save pennies today, we create health problems that cost dollars tomorrow. The business case for better nutrition is overwhelming: quality meals deliver a return on investment through improved academic outcomes & reduced healthcare expenditures.
What Works: Value-Based Procurement in Action
Progressive districts nationwide are rewriting the procurement playbook, proving that better outcomes are possible within existing budgets. Their successes offer a roadmap for systemic change. Let’s dive into a few examples:
Oakland Unified transformed its approach by adopting the Good Food Purchasing Policy where it evaluates food procurement on five equally weighted values: local economics, environmental sustainability, animal welfare, valued workforce, & nutrition. The main focus is to discount the outsized impact of ‘low cost’ bids. The result?
More locally sourced fresh produce
Increased student meal satisfaction
Significant cost savings per meal
Since then, many other school districts have adopted the GFPP including Atlanta, New York City, San Francisco, Cincinnati, and beyond.
Arlington Independent School District switched to procurement software and saw immediate results. Their vendor pool grew nearly 1,800% in two years, creating real competition and greater efficiency. The software revealed wasteful spending - departments stockpiling unneeded supplies - and helped redirect those funds more effectively. Invoice processing became ten times faster axnd automated alerts kept clerks on track with bid renewals. For a district serving 54,000 students across 76 schools, these changes freed up significant budget dollars while allowing staff to focus on strategic decisions instead of paperwork.
Boulder Valley School District has emerged as a national leader in school food reform. In November 2016, BVSD became the first REAL Certified school district in the country, followed by earning the first-ever five-star Good Food Provider seal in December 2017. The results speak for themselves: since implementing universal free meals, lunch participation jumped by 40% and breakfast by 90%. Beyond the cafeteria, BVSD invests over $890,700 into Colorado's local economy annually, impacting more than 2.19 million meals per school year.
A Path Forward: Reform at Every Level
Additionally, transforming school meal procurement requires coordinated action across federal, state, and local levels.
Federal Reform: While the USDA has recently added sugar and sodium limits, Congress must authorize value based criteria in procurement law, moving beyond the singular focus on lowest price. Federal reimbursement rates should reflect the true cost of preparing nutritious meals from quality ingredients. The current $4.60 per free lunch hasn't kept pace with food costs and needs to be updated.
State Leadership: Nine states have blazed the trail on universal free school meals: California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, and Vermont. But meal access is just the beginning. States can also focus on: Farm to school requirements, nutritional standards beyond federal minimums, banning sugary drinks, scratch cooking mandates, and more.
District Action: Local districts must engage parents, nutrition experts, and community stakeholders in RFP design. Measure outcomes such as participation rates, nutritional quality, student satisfaction and not just regulatory compliance. Treat school meals as educational infrastructure, not just cafeteria operations.
Transparency and Accountability: Clear reporting requirements let districts, parents, and policymakers see exactly where money goes. When spending becomes visible, accountability follows. Gap analyses can identify disparities and ensure every child receives quality meals regardless of location.
Making Every Dollar Count
The RFP process might not grab headlines, but it's where funding decisions directly shape what shows up on lunch trays. When districts prioritize nutrition, transparency, and fair competition instead of simply accepting the lowest bid, they can actually change what kids eat and how well they're able to focus and learn.
Can we do better? Yes! districts around the country are already proving it's possible. The real question is whether we're ready to make this a priority everywhere. When we invest in better school meals, we're investing in kids' health and futures. Thirty million children depend on these meals every day, and they deserve our best effort.
Sources:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/07/24/2025-13879/national-school-lunch-special-milk-and-school-breakfast-programs-national-average-paymentsmaximum#p-29
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-the-quality-of-school-lunch-affects-students-academic-performance
https://goodfoodpurchasing.org/about-the-center/#national-partners
https://food.bvsd.org/about-us/certifications-awards
https://frac.org/healthy-school-meals-for-all
https://www.cspi.org/cspi-news/school-meals-get-upgrade-what-expect-going-forward
https://goodfoodpurchasing.org/portfolio-items/2018-good-food-hero-boulder-valley-school-district/