Table 23.-FEDERAL FUNDS PAID FOR ROADS AND SCHOOLS FROM RECEIPTS OF NATIONAL FOREST RESERVES, FOR THE 1948-49 SCHOOL YEAR 1

1 Data supplied by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service.

ARIZONA AND NEW MEXICO

$35, 157. 48

23, 237.58 124, 405. 49 85,498, 47 38.01

2, 627.27 39, 665. 63

2,044, 693.81 14, 453. 68

99, 529. 61

56, 784.73

39, 975. 70

262, 981. 22 112,312, 60 26,068.83

37, 612. 89

1, 107, 482. 84

29, 419.28 66, 091. 64 109,305. 08

4, 922. 10 3, 491. 46

In connection with revenue from national forests it should be noted that the enabling act for New Mexico and Arizona provides that the title to the lands granted for their common schools, if situated within national forests, shall not be vested in the States until such lands are restored to the public domain. Consequently, any income from such school lands is received by the Federal Government rather than by Table 24.-FEDERAL FUNDS FOR SCHOOLS PAID TO ARIZONA AND NEW MEXICO FROM INCOME ON SCHOOL LANDS SITUATED WITHIN THE NATIONAL FORESTS IN THESE STATES, 1937-38-1948-49 1

1

1 Data supplied by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service.

$26,887.91 38, 476.35 35,809.08 39, 334.57 49, 217.25 57,095.87 60, 775.25

these States. As a matter of justice the Act then provides for the transfer of such receipts to the 2 States as follows:

A sum bearing the same relation to the total yearly income of all national forests within each State as the area of school lands within such forests bears to the total area of the forests is paid to the State for its common schools. Under this provision Arizona and New Mexico together have received the amounts listed in table 24 in recent years. These amounts are included in the receipts from national forest reserves listed in tables 22 and 23.

THE SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM

Federal assistance to school lunch programs was initiated during the depression as one method of providing a market for agricultural commodities. It was started under the administration of Public Law 320 (74th Cong.) approved in 1935. The act did not specifically mention school lunches, but section 32 appropriated to the Secretary of Agriculture 30 percent of the gross receipts from duties collected under customs laws, to be used for several purposes, one of which was "to encourage the domestic consumption of such commodities or products by diverting them, by the payment of benefits or indemnities or by other means, from the normal channels of trade or commerce or by increasing their utilization through benefits, indemnities, donations or by other means, among persons in low-income groups The Secretary of Agriculture, in accordance with this law, expended some of the available funds for surplus agricultural products and diverted them to the very important use of providing nourishing school lunches for children.

DISTRIBUTION OF COMMODITIES

*

As one means of encouraging consumption of domestic foods the Secretary of Agriculture expended a total of $244,114, available from section 32 of Public Law 320, during the 1935-36 school year for school lunch commodities. Agricultural products were purchased and distributed to the schools. This improved the market for agricultural commodities and provided better lunches for children at lower local costs. The Secretary of Agriculture increased the funds expended in this way each year until World War II when fewer surplus commodities were available. Annual expenditures for commodities are listed in column 3 of table 25.

To compensate for the decrease after 1942, cash allotments under an Indemnity Plan were more than proportionately increased. This encouraged the schools to buy necessary agricultural products for their school lunch programs. Later, the National School Lunch Act approved in 1946 (Public Law 396, 79th Cong.), established the Federal

policy and program more firmly and provided specifically for the distribution of funds and commodities to schools for the improved nutrition of school children.

Surplus commodities valued at $203,113,432 have been provided by the Federal Government for school lunch programs since July 1935. This figure is given in column 3 of table 25 and it includes the value of all commodities made available under both the price support and surplus removal programs and under Public Law 396. The values of commodities allotted to the individual States for the 1948-49 school year are listed in column 7 of table 3. Similar values for the 1949–50 school year are listed in table 26.

ALLOTMENT OF FUNDS

To expand markets for agricultural products and to provide better lunches for school children, Federal legislation was approved authorizing the reimbursement of sponsors of school lunch programs for the purchase of foods. Reimbursements to schools were based upon considerations of the quality and quantity of the meals served. The first reimbursements came in connection with the "School Milk Program." Under this program payments of $2,066,660 were made to schools during the 1939-40, 1940-41, and 1941-42 school years. This amount is the total of the first three items in column 2 of table 25. In 1943, the milk program was combined with the so-called Indemnity Plan whereby the Secretary of Agriculture indemnified school boards in cash for the purchase of seasonally designated or overabundant agricultural products used in the preparation of certain defined types of school lunches. During the 7 years from 1939-40 to 1945-46 inclusive, a total of $127,356,904 was allotted to schools. under the combined School Milk Program and the Indemnity Plan. NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH ACT

In June 1946, the Seventy-ninth Congress approved Public Law 396 known as the National School Lunch Act. The express purpose of the act was "to safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation's children and to encourage the domestic consumption of nutritious agricultural commodities and other food, by assisting the States, through grants-in-aid and other means, in providing an adequate supply of foods and other facilities for the establishment, maintenance, operation, and expansion of nonprofit school lunch programs." Under the act, apportionments of funds to each State educational agency are based upon the numbers of children from 5 to 17 years of age and upon variations in the per capita income. The use of "per capita income" accomplishes some equalization by allocating larger amounts of Federal money to the financially weaker States and by allowing lower State and local matching funds in States having lower

than average income. The act requires that funds for school lunches be disbursed in each State by the State educational agency. An exception to this requirement is noted for funds allocated to the school lunch programs in private schools where State laws do not permit the State office to make payments to private schools.

Funds allotted in accordance with the provisions of the National School Lunch Act for the past 4 years total $247,060,537. This is the total of the last 4 items in column 2 of table 25.

In addition to authorizing the distribution of funds, the National School Lunch Act provides for the purchase and distribution of foods to schools. These foods include surplus as well as other commodities. The total value of all commodities distributed to the schools under this combined authorization for the school years from 1946-47 to 1949-50, inclusive, is $124,851,282, itemized in column 3 of table 25. Columns 6 and 7 of table 3 present the total Federal assistance to school lunch programs in the States for the 1948-49 school year and table 26 gives similar figures for the 1949-50 school year.

Table 25.-FEDERAL FUNDS ALLOTTED, AND ESTIMATED VALUE OF COMMODITIES DISTRIBUTED FOR THE SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM, 1935-36— 1949-501

1 Data supplied by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Production and Marketing Administration. * Includes $9,696,587 allotted to the States for the purchase of equipment for school lunch programs.

The Federal assistance for school lunches constitutes the largest amount of Federal aid being allocated for any feature of the educational program in the elementary and secondary schools. Approval of the National School Lunch Act was a significant development in both the educational and the health aspects of the public school program.

Details regarding Federal assistance to the school lunch program in addition to those given in tables 3, 25, and 26, can be obtained from the United States Department of Agriculture.

Table 26.-FEDERAL ASSISTANCE ALLOTTED FOR THE SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM FOR THE 1949-50 SCHOOL YEAR1

1 Data supplied by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Production and Marketing Administration.