School lunches are creating a new contraband in Indiana

WASHINGTON — Blackford County students have been caught bringing — and even selling — salt, pepper and sugar to make cafeteria lunches taste better, a county school board official told a congressional panel looking at whether to ease school lunch nutrition rules Wednesday.

"This 'contraband' economy is just one example of many that reinforce the call for flexibility," said John Payne, president of the Blackford County School Board of Trustees and a director of the Indiana School Board Association.

Payne was among state and local school officials asked to testify on how difficult it's been to comply with the nutrition standards Congress imposed in 2010 to combat childhood obesity and improve kid's diets. The rules, for example, require students to take a fruit or vegetable as part of their meal. The amount of meat and bread that can be served is limited and grains must be rich in whole grains.

While most Indiana schools have been certified as meeting the new rules, which began in 2012, compliance is lower than in most states.

"From firsthand experience, I can verify that despite the increased federal involvement in the school meals program, many students are still going to class hungry," said Rep. Todd Rokita, the Indianapolis Republican who called the hearing as head of a panel on the House Education and Workforce Committee.

The committee is deciding whether to change the program, which needs to be reauthorized this year.

Critics contend the rules are too costly and time-consuming for schools.

"We just simply aren't able to dig out of the paperwork," said South Dakota Secretary of Education Melody Schopp.

Critics also say the new standards have caused students to stop participating while also resulting in waste as kids throw away fruits, vegetables and whole-grain food they don't like.

"I've stuck my head in a lot of garbage cans lately in school cafeterias and I've seen a lot of that," Rokita said.

But Donna Martin, director of the school nutrition program in Burke County, Ga., said her students are gobbling up their whole-grain biscuits and fresh Georgia peaches and blueberries.

"We have the opportunity to change a generation," Martin said. "We have an opportunity to raise kids that, when they go into McDonald's, they want a whole wheat hamburger bun."

Schools receive more money for their meal programs once they've been certified to have met the new rules. In Indiana, almost 90 percent have been certified, compared with 95 percent nationwide.

"I can't see the reason to reduce the standards," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsak told the committee last week. "We have provided flexibility in sodium, whole grains and in other aspects of the rule. I think we'll continue to look for opportunities to be flexible. But I don't think you want to roll the standards back."

A report from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office in 2014 found that most states reported it's been difficult to get students to accept the new meals. Participation in the program declined nearly 4 percent nationally after many years of steady increases. But schools and states expect the challenges, including cost and food waste, to decline over time, the GAO reported.

In Blackford County, located in the east-central part of the state, 55 percent of the 1,750 students are eligible for free or reduced price school meals. Participation has declined 2 percentage points since 2012, Payne said.

"More students bring their lunch, and a few parents even 'check out' their child from campus," Payne said, "taking them to a local fast-food restaurant or home for lunch."

Contact Maureen Groppe at mgroppe@gannett.com or @mgroppe on Twitter.