DOE Gets An F: 贬补飞补颈驶颈 Schools Miss Their First Local Food Target
The department has included bottled water in its accounting for locally produced food.
The 贬补飞补颈驶颈 Department of Education bought just 5% of ingredients for school lunches from local producers last year, failing to hit its first state-mandated farm-to-school target of 10% for local foods. And that counts purchases of local bottled water.
This translated to roughly $4.5 million of the education department’s $82 million in food spending during the 2023-2024 school year for local produce, dairy, ground beef and poi among other staples, according to a report school officials will present Friday to the House Finance Committee.
The department鈥檚 failure does not come as a shock to many in farm-to-school circles who have for years criticized the approach and speed of the agency鈥檚 work to integrate locally grown food into school meals. The mandated increase in spending was intended to ensure children received more nutritious meals and to give an economic boost to 贬补飞补颈驶颈 farmers and ranchers.
鈥淚鈥檓 really saddened and frustrated but definitely not surprised,鈥 former teacher and farm-to-school advocate Rep. Amy Perruso said.
The state tasked the department with increasing its local food spending incrementally, starting this year at 10% and ending in 2050 when it is expected to spend 50% of its food budget on local produce.
But the department backslid since the goals were set. In 2022, local food accounted for 6.2% of the state鈥檚 food purchasing, 0.8% higher than the latest school year.
The report to state lawmakers shows ground beef made up the lion’s share of the department’s total spending on local food, accounting for 3% during the 2023-2024 school year. Fruit and vegetables accounted for 1.83% and less than 1% for poi, dairy and locally sourced bottled water.
The bottled water, from Hilo, is offered a la carte for students purchasing school meals in the cafeteria and is deemed a “local processed product,” DOE spokeswoman Nanea Ching said in an email.
It is a “creative stretch” to include bottled water in the report to the Legislature, 贬补飞补颈驶颈 Farmers Union advocacy director Hunter Heaivilin said, one that he is certain 贬补飞补颈驶颈 farmers did not benefit from.
The department spent more than $40 million on imported processed foods in the 2023-2024 school year, accounting for 56.75% of its ingredients, the remaining 37.82% was spent on imported meat, fresh produce and dairy.
DOE officials have in the past blamed local food industry's weak supply, price point, and flimsy supply chains for the lack of progress. Agriculture and farm-to-school advocates have largely rebuked that idea, saying the DOE's School Food Services Branch has been too opaque and inflexible to sell local food to.
The department has consistently shown "reticence to pursue public will that has been embodied in state law," said Heaivilin, a food systems planner.
To be sure, there are products that 贬补飞补颈驶颈 farmers will not be able to grow competitively or affordably enough for the department, such as apples, potatoes and rice. So the DOE should alter meals to better suit the local food system, Heaivilin said, or it should consider changing the way it reports its progress, so food producers have a greater understanding of what they could grow.
"Some of these could be automatic import replacements, some of these could require changing menus," Heaivilin said.
Ching said the DOE plans to host forums with vendors to guide them on the department's procurement laws, among other things, to help farmers, ranchers and other food producers better negotiate deals with them across the islands.
The department has nevertheless failed to meet its mandated goal this year, casting doubt over the program's success.
Lawmakers will have to resolve a discrepancy in laws by 2030 because two different laws 鈥 2021's and from 2022 鈥 show different targets, one being 30% and the other 18%. Perruso said she's not sure there are consequences either way for the department failing to meet the targets.
The department has banked on the development of a centralized mega-kitchen model, based on mainland school food operations and local chain restaurant Zippy's, which prepares food in a central location to distribute throughout each island. The DOE signed a contract for the first kitchen's construction late last year, worth almost $30 million, to be built in Whitmore Village on O驶ahu.
With the kitchen, strongly supported by Senate Ways and Means Chair Donovan Dela Cruz, the DOE hopes to iron out kinks in the supply chain on its way to reaching mandated goals.
Perruso said the Legislature is also partly to blame for the department's failure to meet the goal, having left the department with just one position dedicated to the task.
That role was not filled until August last year, after being vacant for three years. Randy Tanaka, DOE's former facilities superintendent, said he was doing the job himself until he was fired in late 2023.
"It's not going to be possible for one person to effectuate that change," Perruso said, so the state needs to intervene to help the department achieve the goals.
"Hawai鈥榠 Grown" is funded in part by grants from the Stupski Foundation, Ulupono Fund at the Hawai鈥榠 Community Foundation and the Frost Family Foundation.
