The Farm-to-School Initiative connects schools with area farms to serve healthy meals using locally produced foods. Farm-to-school programs contribute to children’s health by helping them develop healthy eating habits that will last a lifetime. Nationally, farm-to-school programs have increased from fewer than 10 in 1997 to more than 2,000 in 2008.

Yvonne Butler is a believer. She believes in the power of good nutrition to help students learn. She believes in the power of eating right to cut down on discipline problems. And she believes that getting kids to change their tastes to actually want to eat healthier food in school is a challenge, but worth the effort in the long run. Butler should know: She created the first sugar-free school in the country at Browns Mill Elementary and Magnet School in Georgia, just outside Atlanta.

Huntington, W.Va., has more pizza parlors than gyms. That’s one reason the town—which sits in the fourth fattest state, based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—was labeled the unhealthiest city in America by the CDC and drew the attention of British chef Jamie Oliver.

The National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs provide millions of meals every day to the nation's disadvantaged children. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is trying to close loopholes that still allow unhealthy food onto school plates.

The statistics are startling. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of obese high school students has nearly tripled in the past three years. Thirty-two percent of children diagnosed with diabetes in one study had type 2 diabetes—the type normally  associated with obese adults. Obesity among children, once a rarity, has become an epidemic in this country. Fortunately, schools across the country are responding to this health crisis. Many innovative programs are taking place at the local or school district level, but all too often those programs operate in a vacuum and are not publicized, even in neighboring counties.

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED, that The Council of State Governments encourages Congress to align the School Meal Initiative Standards with current Dietary Guidelines for Americans, urges states to work with their U.S. senators and representatives to ensure that schools are meeting those guidelines, and urges state legislators to work with their Departments of Education to ensure local school districts are meeting the nutritional standards already in place.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that The Council of State Governments strongly supports the implementation of a comprehensive, national Farm to School program that helps schools provide staff training, conduct menu planning, locate sources of locally produced food, purchase food, and assists farmers and schools to purchase the necessary equipment to encourage the utilization of locally produced food products.

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED, that The Council of State Governments supports and encourages states to enforce existing U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations that prohibit serving foods of minimal nutritional value during mealtimes in school food service areas, including vending machines.