Sioux Falls district outlines nutrition services expansion, warns of pending USDA changes

Gaye Anderson, director of Nutrition Services for Sioux Falls School District 49-5, told the school board the department is expanding hot-food service to more elementary schools, increasing meal participation and monitoring potential federal changes that could reduce program eligibility and reimbursements.

Anderson said the department served about 572,000 breakfasts and more than 1,777,000 lunches through February, with average daily participation of about 4,934 for breakfast and 15,320 for lunch. "Our priority area is providing healthy meals and the most affordable means to our students," Anderson said.

The report to the board detailed several operational initiatives. The district participates in multiple U.S. Department of Agriculture programs, Anderson said, and received approximately $1,500,000 in USDA Foods this year. The department operates the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) for two daycare sites, participates in the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program at 18 elementary schools and operates Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) sites at five schools where eligible students receive free meals without individual applications.

Anderson described a pilot to deliver hot food prepared closer to lunchtime to some elementary sites. Washington High School prepared hot food for Sullivan; Jefferson prepared for Hayward; Edison Middle School prepared for Laura Wilder. She said the district plans to expand hot-food preparation next school year to additional elementary sites and estimated the change will affect roughly 800 additional students, bringing the total affected by the hot-food initiative to about 3,025 students across the elementary program.

On finances, Anderson said the district changed its primary food vendor this year and realized an approximate 5.45% savings on high-volume items and about 5.79% on lower-volume items compared with the prior year, in part by shifting some deliveries to overnight drop-offs. The child nutrition department has roughly 199 employees (including extra hours for some elementary locations) and one full-time district dietitian who manages special-diet requests.

The department also described donors and the district Angel Fund, a tiered matching program designed to help families who fall above federal free-and-reduced guidelines. Anderson said the Angel Fund currently projects a need of about $200,000 to cover the school year. She said unpaid meal balances were $8,533 at the start of the school year and, as of March 17, had risen to $11,209; she reported the current balance just before the meeting was $11,301.

Anderson warned about proposed federal changes affecting nutrition programs. She said proposals under discussion could tighten CEP eligibility from 25% direct certification to 60% (which would remove some schools from CEP), require income verification for all free-and-reduced applications instead of the current 3% verification rate, and reduce federal reimbursement rates. "We remain committed to staying on top of this," she said, adding she expected to attend a May meeting of national child-nutrition leaders in Washington, D.C., to discuss sustaining programs under the proposed changes.

Board members thanked Anderson and staff. The board then unanimously acknowledged the Child Nutrition Services report.

Anderson asked the board to acknowledge the overview of departmental work and stood by for questions. The presentation and board discussion emphasized participation increases, steps to reduce unpaid meal balances, donor-supported matching and the district’s plan to expand hot-food delivery soon.