(Updated) Barnard’s vegetables were Democrats’ Exhibit A of mean budget cuts by Gov. Rell — though it turned out that Democrats want to cut back on the kale, too.
When the statewide budget debate came to Barnard School Monday afternoon, it boiled down to a question of serving size: Senate Democrats who called the press event started by drawing contrasts between their budget proposal and the governor’s, but ended up arguing over degrees.
They were arguing about the Healthy Food Program, which rewards school systems that meet healthy food requirements. The requirements limit salt, sugar and fat and encourage the serving of whole grains and fresh fruit and vegetables. In exchange for meeting those requirements, schools get an extra 10 cents for each school lunch served, to spend on healthful food. The $4 million program serves 114 school districts in the state. Gov. M. Jodi Rell proposes to cut the Healthy Food Program by 50 percent, or $2 million, over two years.
It turns out that Democrats also want to cut the program, but by a lesser amount. Either way, it will be a “devastating” blow for New Haven’s school lunch program, according to top school chef Tim Cipriano.
Monday’s event came as lawmakers struggle to pass a tax and spending package for the current fiscal year, nearly two months after the last budget expired.
Democrats said they called the press conference to “highlight the human costs” of Rell’s proposed cuts. Standing near the sunflowers in an inner garden of the Barnard Environmental Studies Magnet School on Derby Avenue, they offered the Healthy Food Program as one example of how Rell’s budget priorities are out of whack. The food in that garden isn’t jeopardized by the cuts, but it served as an example of the type of fresh food that is.
New Haven Sen. Toni Harp (at left in top photo) hailed the Healthy Food Program as a key tool in the fight against childhood obesity. Guilford Sen. Ed Meyer said it provides a “safety net” for students who don’t get good nutrition at home.
“The governor’s cuts would really threaten the survival of the program,” declared New Haven Sen. Martin Looney (at right in top photo), the senate majority leader. He stood by beds of dinosaur kale, grape tomatoes and tea leaves that are used in Barnard students’ meals as part of a sweeping effort to bring New Haven students fresher, more healthful food.
Rell’s cuts would force schools to make a difficult choice, Looney argued: either find other revenue for the program or eliminate it and resort to offering junk food.
Looney said the program shows Rell’s priorities are wrong. In cutting the program, Rell “asks students to sacrifice instead of millionaires,” read a release from his office. Instead of seeing services like the Healthy Food Program as expendable, Democrats see them as vital, he said. To maintain funding to this and other programs, Democrats propose a progressive income tax.
“In a time when many families are struggling to put food on the table, it makes no sense to target our lunch programs,” Looney added, in a written statement that supplemented his remarks.
In a written statement, Rell’s office wrote that all “deserving” programs will be fully funded next year.
“Every school child in Connecticut entitled to free and nutritious school lunches and breakfasts will continue to receive them,” the statement read. “That has not changed and will not change. The funding in question involves an extra 10 cents to enhance food choices for all students. Governor Rell hopes that a state budget will be in place by the end of the week and that all deserving programs and services the state provides to all its citizens will be funded for the entire fiscal year.”
Reached Monday afternoon, state GOP Chairman Chris Healy dismissed Democrats alarm call as “disingenuous,” because “chances are, if we do come down to a budget, this [program] will fall by the wayside.” He said by focusing on a tiny, $4 million program, Democrats are taking attention away from the big costs, like personnel, education grants, and aide to towns.
Healy said instead of blaming the “big, bad Republicans” for slashing the budget, Democrats should take advantage of their super-majority status and pass a budget themselves.
Dems Would Trim Program, Too
Looney mentioned, but didn’t emphasize, that the Democrats are targeting the Healthy Food Program, too — just to a lesser degree. Rell proposes cutting the program by 50 percent, or $2 million over two years. Democrats propose a 25 percent cut, or $1 million over the same period.
If the program’s so important, why are Democrats willing to cut it by 25 percent? Looney was asked.
Looney replied that the Democrats reluctantly proposed the cut only after Rell proposed the much deeper cut. The cut is “painful,” and one that “we would very much like not to make,” and is an unfortunate product of an “unprecedentedly” tough budget year, he said.
Democrats’ willingness to cut back on fresh fruit and vegetables in schools shows that Democrats are willing to make sacrifices in spending, contrary to what Rell has been saying, Looney argued.
Sens. Harp, Meyers and Looney all said they were not happy with the 25 percent cut, and would push for a lesser blow to students’ fresh food supply, such as a 10 percent cut.
The Healthy Food Program is “one that we should try to preserve even more of the funding,” Looney said.
“Even if we are able to rescue the program” by making a smaller than 25-percent cut, Looney warned, “there will of course be some cuts to the program.”
Salad Days Are Numbered
Either way you slice it, the Democratic and Repulican budget proposals would spell “devastating” cuts to the city’s new effort to bring healthy food like kale, fresh tomatoes and potatoes into the school lunch room, said Cipriano, the city’s new head of food services.
New Haven receives $280,000 per year from the Healthy Food Program, he said. New Haven joined the program as soon as it was created through the legislature in 2006.
The grant specifically supports extras like fruit and vegetables that supplement school lunches a la carte. The bigger picture, he said, is that it comprises 3 percent of the school system’s food budget and helps the schools offer new healthful offerings, like baked chicken, whole grains and string beans.
Some of the kids in New Haven come to school for their only meal of the day, Cipriano said.
He said in light of the impending cuts from the state, he has to reassess his food menu, one week before school opens. The cuts may mean he can only offer salad once a week instead of three times a week, he said. They may mean more canned vegetables instead of crunchy fresh ones.
“With these cuts on the horizon, all bets are off,” he said. “Because of these cuts, we will not be able to continue to offer the abundant variety of fresh fruits and vegetables that you can see in this garden on a daily basis.”
Leaders of End Hunger Connecticut! and the School Nutrition Association of CT joined Cipriano in fighting the cuts to the 114 school systems in the state that benefit from the program.
Lashae Payton (pictured), the mother of a first-grader at Barnard, stopped by with her kids to support the school system. She sampled some dinosaur kale (pictured) and grape tomatoes.
Is this a joke? The plants shown are summer plants, school is out during the summer. Are they doing canning as well. How much food is gotten from the garden?
"either find other revenue for the program or eliminate it and resort to offering junk food."
Really, that's the only choice to offer twinkies and donuts?