Lawmakers Want To Swap Lunch Funds For Sugary Drinks

HARTFORD (AP) — The sale of soda, sports drinks and other sweetened beverages would be banned in all Connecticut public schools if legislators approve a nutrition bill unveiled last week. The proposal, which will be introduced in the legislative session that starts next week, would also boost the state’s reimbursement rate for each lunch sold to school districts that offer healthier items in place of junk food.

Govenor M. Jodi Rell last year vetoed a bill that included the soda ban, but a spokesman for Rell said Wednesday that she will endorse the new proposal if it is adopted as written. Students would still be allowed to bring their own sodas, sports drinks and similar beverages to school, but could not buy or sell them on campus.

The Connecticut proposals, if enacted, would be among the most sweeping school nutrition regulations in the nation. California, Maine and several other states recently revamped their policies to limit or prohibit the sales of soda, candy and other items with limited nutritional value.

State officials who released details of the Connecticut plan said they believe it will receive bipartisan legislative support and please parents who were disappointed by the failure of last year’s bill.

“When children go to school, we take on the role of parents to them. If we’re putting junk in front of the students, then shame on us,” said state Senate President Pro Tem Donald E. Williams Jr, who unveiled the proposal with state Education Commissioner Betty Sternberg and several legislators.

The new proposal, if adopted, would take effect in July and would apply to all Connecticut public elementary, middle and high schools. It would prohibit the sale of regular and diet soda, sports drinks such as Gatorade and Powerade, and flavored waters with added sugars and sweeteners.

It would apply to sales from all sources, including vending machines, school stores, cafeterias and on-campus fundraisers. Narrow exceptions would be allowed for concession stands at school-sponsored events on weekends and after school.

Schools would still be allowed to sell milk with a fat content of two-percent or less, along with 100 percent fruit juice and certain flavored waters that do not contain added sugars, sweeteners or caffeine.

The nutrition proposal also would triple the reimbursement rate for each lunch sold to districts that agree to follow new state nutrition guidelines. Districts currently receive five cents per lunch sold, but could receive 15 cents per lunch by enacting the new nutrition suggestions.

“To say it succinctly, healthy kids are smart kids,” Sternberg said. “If we have healthy youngsters, that provides the foundation for having high-achieving youngsters.”

Dana Plant, president of the School Nutrition Association of Connecticut, said the higher reimbursement rate would help offset funding gaps that some districts could experience by cutting back on the sale of junk food.

Several Connecticut districts already have revamped their menus to add more nutritional offerings. In Wallingford, for example, salt shakers have disappeared from condiment carts and the cooks use butter sprays, low-fat cheeses and herb seasonings in place of higher-fat flavorings.

“Lots of school districts in Connecticut have been making great strides in lowering the fat, lowering the sodium content and adding healthy grains,” said Sharlene Wong, Wallingford’s food service director and a board member of the national nonprofit School Nutrition Association.

Last year’s school nutrition bill drew national attention and was one of the most closely watched bills of the legislative session.

It included a provision to boost physical activity requirements for Connecticut students. That provision is not included in the new school nutrition bill, although some legislators have said they will submit a separate bill to revive those physical activity proposals.

The initiative was expected to be introduced as the state legislature convened for its 2006 session earlier this week