Here’s what I can tell you.

School food service management companies are going to pull out of a lot of school districts, if not out of public school service entirely. Districts were working on shoestring budgets with all-but-nonexistent profit margins before Trump returned to office and declared war on the poor. The cuts to grants that Trump has made already are going to put these districts underwater by year’s end. And that’s a generous estimate.

Now, say what you will about the major food service companies out there (Chartwells, Sodexo, Aramark, Wixons, etc.). And god knows there are problems with all of them. I say this having worked for one of them. But what I will also say is that even the worst of these companies is still better than many districts that will try to self-operate. And while some school districts can and do self-op successfully, far more have absolutely no idea what they’re doing. “Management” is typically whoever drew the short straw, or whoever is low man on the totem pole. They often have no idea what they’re doing and know nothing about 90% of the rules, regulations, and practices of food service. Further, they couldn’t care less because they have their actual jobs to do and food service barely even makes the priority list at all, let alone being low priority. “Menu planning” becomes little more than “There’s a hamburger, french fries, and some milk. What more do you want?”. The districts don’t have the leverage to buy at bulk rates like a school food service company does, so the food often costs more.

So the waste, fraud, and abuse is going to increase exponentially. Much of it is going to be due to sheer incompetence and a lack of buying power. Some will see it as a way to divert money into programs that they actually do care about – a practice that was already common before Trump – or in some cases, directly into their pockets. Others are going to intentionally sabotage the program because they want school lunch service out of their schools entirely, hoping to follow the political winds and have the federal mandates requiring participation in the NSLP repealed.

Take a look at the crap your kids are getting served today. That’s the healthiest they’re gonna eat at school for a long, long time.