FEDERAL SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM These state boards are: The Pennsylvania Department of Education, California Department of Education (CDE) and Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). Pennsylvania In the State of Pennsylvania, the various food nutrition programs run by the Pennsylvania Department of Education feed over a million school children on a daily basis. During the school calendar year of 2004/2005, the state availed over 186 million lunches to its children in the various schools. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education (2012), the state is concerned about the provision of proper and adequate nutrition which is considered to be essential to the learning process of every school going kid as it contributes positively towards the general student health. Among the food programs that the state runs are; school breakfast programs (SBP), NSLP, summer food service program (SFSP) and the child and adult care food program (CACFP). All these programs are run by a sub division of the department of education called the ‘Division of food and nutrition’ whose mission statement is “to promote access to healthy food choices among the commonwealth’s children to ensure readiness to learn, wellness, and sponsor compliance with federal child nutrition programs” ( Pennsylvania Department of Education, 2012). In addition to the federal government requirements, Pennsylvania has gone an extra mile to ensure that its school feeding programs achieve the state’s individual goals and objectives. Among their major objectives has been to offer nutrition training opportunities and education to sponsors of the nutrition programs, carrying out compliance reviews that are consistent in terms of accountability and come with technical assistance, and offering nutrition curriculums which are age appropriate and in compliance with the standards of education. Lastly the state aims to be exemplary in all its program performances by having fiscal accountability such that recipients of
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