Comment Request - School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study-II

This collection is a new collection for the School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study-II (SNMCS-II). The purpose of SNMCS-II is to provide a comprehensive picture of school food service operations and the nutritional quality, cost, and acceptability of meals served in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP).

SNMCS-II will provide a comprehensive picture of the NSLP and SBP, and will provide critical information about the nutritional quality, cost, and acceptability of school meals seven years after major reforms began being phased in during the 2012-2013 school year (SY).

SNMCS-II will collect a broad range of data from nationally representative samples of public school food authorities (SFAs), public, non-charter schools, students, and parents/guardians during SY 2019-2020. These data will provide Federal, State, and local policymakers with current information about how federally sponsored school meal programs are operating by updating the information that was collected in SY 2014-2015 for the first School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study (SNMCS-I).

In addition, findings from SNMCS-II will be compared to those from SNMCS-I to explore trends in key domains including the nutrient content of school meals, meal costs and revenues, and student participation, plate waste, and dietary intakes. SNMCS-II will also estimate the costs of producing reimbursable school meals in up to five States and Territories outside of the 48 contiguous States and the District of Columbia (DC), and examine the relationship of costs to revenues in those five outlying areas. Section 28(a) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act authorizes this assessment of the cost of producing meals, and the nutrient profile of meals under the NSLP and SBP.