“School food sucks” is a commonly heard complaint amongst students. Last year, the Student Advisory Council surveyed high school students about school food. They concluded from their questionnaire responses that students are not satisfied with the school food program, criticizing everything from the long lines in cafeterias to the meals themselves. When other student groups have done surveys like this, the usual response recommended to the students is that all of our discontent, our complaints, and our energy should be devoted to writing to the SFUSD offices, or complaining to the Board of Education, because they are the ones who can “fix school food.”

That is not true.

Our school district has gone above and beyond what they are financially able to do to try to make the school food program better. Each year, Student Nutrition Services runs a deficit trying to increase the quality and the quantity of the food provided, and the district staff overseeing the program work diligently to make sure our food is as healthy and tasty as it can be, given the money available.

That is the key issue here—the money, or rather the lack of it. Better food costs more, and so do the additional cafeteria workers necessary to make the lines move faster. The problems that we should be complaining about are not that the school district is using the money for school food in a wasteful or inefficient manner, but that school districts are not getting enough money to serve healthy and delicious meals. The school food program is overseen by the Department of Agriculture (USDA), and funded through bills passed by Congress. You may be surprised to learn that Congress provides only $2.57 per “free” lunch, and after labor and utilities costs, only approximately $1 is left per meal to spend on food. This lonely dollar, when up against rising food costs over the summer, can no longer supply us with what we had last year, let alone any improvement. In San Francisco, the food costs for the meal program went up 35% from last year, but the funding increased only 4%. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that this will not cut it.

However, there is still hope for a more delicious and healthy school meal. Right now through October 15th, the USDA is taking public comment for Congress on the Child Nutrition Act, which is where the funding for school meal programs comes from. Every five years, Congress looks at the Child Nutrition Act and makes any necessary changes before approving it for another 5 years. The public comment that the USDA collects will be turned over to Congress when they have their debates about the Child Nutrition Act early next year. Congress will determine if they need to increase the money provided per meal – literally, they are the ones who could “fix school food”.

This opens up possibilities for students to use our energy and use our anger at a sub-par school lunch to write to Congress and ask that more money be provided for school food. If you do not have time to write your own e-mail, visit www.sfusdfood.org and click on the banner at the top for asking Congress to provide more money for school food. It links to information and form e-mails you can copy and send.

Don’t just sit around with your friends and complain that “School food sucks!” Take a few minutes to write an e-mail, and try to do something about it.

Jacob Schreiber is a 12th grader at Lowell High School in San Francisco.