Bibb County schools nutrition braces for cuts, regulations

Hungry students from across Bibb County poured into the Central Georgia Technical College gym Tuesday morning to taste and vote on their picks for next year’s Bibb County School District cafeteria menu.

Students piled their plates high with pulled pork, glowing-ectoplasmic strawberry banana smoothies, rolled up pizza-bites, chicken meatballs and more.

This is the second time Bibb County is holding their Student Food Show — giving kids a say in what goes in their stomachs — but choices for feeding students are becoming harder to make with new regulations and funding cuts.

A little over a week ago, the USDA axed $1 billion in federal funding for schools and other child care servicers. The bulk of the funding was for the Local Food for Schools program — established in 2024 — which gave $660 million to states for schools to buy local food.

Condus Shuman, the executive director for the Bibb County schools’ nutrition department, said the state has yet to inform the district about the cut’s impact on Bibb County.

Georgia’s agriculture department received $23.6 million through the program. More than $2.2 million was used by school nutrition programs for local purchases for the 2023-24 school year, according to the Georgia Department of Education.

“We’re gonna have to go to some scratch cooking,” Shuman said.

The school district also has to get into compliance with new nutrition guidelines, like reducing the amount of sugar in their breakfast foods and sodium in their lunches.

Shuman, who started at Bibb County schools two years ago, said the district’s nutrition department is “self-sustaining” meaning it runs on what it makes from federal reimbursements provided by the state. 

The school district’s central kitchen, the only of its kind among public school districts in Georgia, also allows them to quality control and provide consistent meals, she said.

“We’re pretty flexible with what we have,” Shuman said. “Right now, with the recent budget cuts we’re having to tailor that (nutrition program).”

All students in Bibb County are eligible for free breakfast and lunch under the Community Eligibility Provision, which allows schools to provide meals to students without the need for individual household income applications. 

Federal legislation could change the eligibility threshold for school districts and require parents to apply for free meals for their children.

“Many of our students that are here, the only meals they receive are the meals that they receive when they come to school,” Shuman said.

For now, kids can continue eating turkey sausage and grits, hoppin’ John and chicken alfredo before their options change next year.

The student food fair will return next year, Shuman said, hopefully with more than the 326 students that came this year.