Booker, Cornyn Introduce Bill to Fund School Nutrition Programs

By Rebecca Klar for The Hill

Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) on Thursday introduced a bill proposing a pilot program to direct federal funds to school nutrition programs.

The bipartisan Food and Nutrition Education in Schools Act of 2020 would allocate federal funding for projects that educate students while connecting them to healthy food practices. 

Priority would be given to schools in neighborhoods with high rates of childhood diet-related illnesses and schools in which 40 percent of students qualify for free or reduced price meals. …

The bill for the pilot program would provide local education agencies for projects that hire full-time food and nutrition educators. It would also fund school gardens and other evidence-based interventions related to student health and nutrition to create hands-on learning opportunities for students. 

FoodCorps, a nonprofit that connects kids with healthy food in schools, worked with lawmakers to help develop the bill. 

“This bipartisan bill proposes to expand evidence-based food and nutrition education resources and programming to even more schools, ensuring school nutrition professionals have greater support to get kids excited about eating healthy school meals,” FoodCorps policy director Kumar Chandran said in a statement.