There has been a big push at the national level to promote better nutrition and increase exercise for children. There is nothing wrong with telling kids to eat better and play outside, but North Carolina’s latest legislative attempt to jump on the bandwagon misses the mark entirely.
House Bill 840: Healthier and Greener Schools Act–sponsored by Reps. Harrison (D-Guilford), Cotham (D-Mecklenburg), Carney (D- Mecklenburg), and Glazier (D- Cumberland)—would dramatically increase the size of the education bureaucracy to enforce unrealistic and expensive requirements.
There are probably enough bad ideas in HB 840 to feature it as a Bad Bill of the Week for at least a month. This bill seeks to take control of every aspect of a child’s health down to the sodium content of every meal. Dissecting every detail of this lengthy bill could fill a book, but that is not our intent here. Instead, you can get a flavor of the mind-numbing micro-managing involved in the bill with an outline of some of bill’s requirements and mandates. They include:
- A requirement that each local school administrative unit establish a facility to prepare, process, grow and store healthy and nutritious foods for schools and nonprofit organizations. Does this mean that N.C. schools will be in the farming business?
- A requirement that public schools offer free breakfasts to all students, not just the ones that qualify for free and reduced lunches.
- Taste tests and surveys to determine student preferences for the contents of their free breakfasts.
- A requirement that schools promote healthy eating to students, faculty, staff and parents. The bill, however, exemps food provided to staff from nutritional requirements.
- A fine of $500 dollars a day for schools that offer snack food that fails to meet nutritional requirements.
- Strict adherence to prescribed physical activity requirements.
- Establishment of an environmental programs office within the Department of Public Instruction to develop plans for recycling, composting, and using “green” cleaning supplies.
- Establishment of a School Gardens Program within the Department of Public Instruction to study school gardens.
- A requirement that public and charter schools establish and operate school health centers, the bill does not define the role of the proposed centers.
- Creation of the Healthy Youth and Schools Commission to advise the General Assembly on schools.
The state doesn’t need to be spending money on monitoring to the milligram student’s nutritional intakes or building even more bureaucracy to study school gardens at a time like this (or at any time for that matter).
House Bill 840 is the “Bad Bill of the Week” because it distracts from the real goal of the public school system: educating children.
This qualifies to be bad bill of the year. What are these people thinking? Sure, let’s lay off teachers and add layers of bureaucracy, spending even more money. Since when is it the place of the school system to parent the children? My child’s diet is MY responsibility NOT yours, and taking money from my pocket makes that even more difficult. Withdraw this ridiculous bill.
But what about when we’re at home? I certainly hope that they can come up with a gov’t program to make sure parents and children are eating correctly, exercising and “being green” when school is not in session. Maybe that can create some jobs!
(total saracasm)
Is this how our representatives spend their time—yikes??
What part of stop spending money we don’t have do they not understand? The State is a mess of red ink from government interference on non-essential needs. Deficit, over $2 billion—debt, over $10 billion– including unfunded liability– over $40 billion.
I’ve got a better idea; send all these representatives back to elementary school to learn 3rd grade math and a bit of common sense.
Guilford County Schools is a huge mess of miss-management. School system has 10,000 employees, 4,980 teachers, 3,665 teachers in the classroom. Anyone see a problem here??
Guilford County School’s budget has increased 65% in the past decade. The population of Guilford County increased 16% in the past decade. Hmm! anyone see a problem with this??
Guilford County School funding from the County is $189 million, 23% goes to teachers, and 77% goes—hmm! I wonder where?
65 of Guilford County School senior level administrators make a combined $11,700,000.
Now, what do we have to show for it??
Your right—nothing.
The State/County education strategy is deeply flawed. Obviously, more money to fund activities outside the classroom is a colossal failure.
Stop spending, cut back administrators 50%, define a new strategy and make sure the funding is focused on the kids—not the adults.
So, pull house bill 840 and dump it immediately.
Im fat and cant reed too good.
Skool didnt teech me to reed. Can skool teech me to eet?
May be if skool feed me better i reed better too.
It looks like I was right when I said the public schools are DEAD as educational institutions but alive and well as social institutions. What’s next Communal Nurseries so the state can raise the child without interference from the parents? The same omnipotent busy bodies that have plagued American societry for over one hundred years are at it again but notice that they use your pocketbook not their’s. National Socialism is not far off.
The clowns that fostered this monstrosity obviously do not understand our nation, and this state, are not flush with cash. This is the absolute worst attempt at a nanny state I have seen. And the expense? It will roll past anything we could imagine. Would be worth it to find out WHY anyone voted for these people!
This bill has about everything covered, except housing!
Why didn’t it require each school to provide on-site housing so the government could fill their “little minds full of mush” the progressive dogma 24 hours a day! We could call them “re-education camps.”
Then parents wouldn’t have any responsibilities at all.