Balancing Nutrition, Participation, and Cost in the National School Lunch Program

USDA support is intended to cover much of the cost of providing the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) lunches, and most of it is in the form of cash reimbursement for meals served. In FY 2007, the commodities given to schools were worth 17 cents per meal for a total of $104 billion. In 2005-2006, USDA's Food and Nutrition Service sponsored a national study -- the School Lunch and Breakfast Cost Study II -- to evaluate the adequacy of reimbursements. The study measured cost in two ways: the reported cost and the full cost of producing a reimbursable or nonreimbursable meal. Revenues for school meal programs come from various sources: USDA subsidies, student payments for NSLP meals, sales of other foods, and State and local funds. For reported costs, revenue from NSLP lunches covered 115% of costs versus 71% for nonreimbursable meals. In some cases, School food authorities have outsourced meal provision to private foodservice management companies.