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- Lunch breakthrough: the State Duma proposed to increase subsidies for hot meals in schools
Lunch breakthrough: the State Duma proposed to increase subsidies for hot meals in schools
The State Duma proposed to increase subsidies for hot meals for elementary school students by the inflation rate. Currently, the amounts are not indexed, which leads to an annual reduction in funding in real terms. An increase in subsidies, adjusted for inflation, will preserve the quality of school meals and support the sustainability of the program, but will create an additional burden on the federal budget, experts warn. Whether subsidies need to be indexed is in the Izvestia article.
Commensurate with the height
Subsidies given to regions for hot meals for primary school students can be indexed to the inflation rate. This initiative was made by deputies of the New People faction in the State Duma. The document is available to the Moscow agency.
Currently, the size, procedure and conditions for granting such subsidies to the regions are determined by the Cabinet of Ministers. Parliamentarians want the funds to be allocated to school meals on a mandatory basis.
At the same time, the amount of payments does not change against the background of rising prices, which leads to an annual reduction in financing in real terms. Currently, subsidies from the federal budget for hot meals have decreased by 7.5%.
The consumer price index for hot meals in schools, according to the authors of the initiative, significantly exceeds official inflation. Potatoes, for example, increased in price by 91.85% in 2024, beets — by 32.09%, 1 kg of butter — by 36.23%, etc.
"Thus, the real cost of products used to prepare school lunches is growing annually significantly higher than the allocated costs for their organization, which forces educational organizations to save on food quality or reduce portions," the explanatory note emphasizes.
The bill is expected to improve the free meals program for elementary school students. "This will ensure that schoolchildren have a full and healthy diet, strengthen their health, reduce social inequality and improve academic performance," the document concludes.
A step towards sustainability
Currently, subsidies for the organization of hot meals for elementary school students are provided from the federal budget on a co-financing basis, recalls Sean Betrozov, a practicing lawyer at the Moscow Chamber of Lawyers and a member of the Russian Bar Association. In fact, subsidies are allocated based on calculations that take into account the number of students and cost standards per child. But the fixed nature of these amounts leads to the fact that their real purchasing power decreases annually due to rising food prices.
"The funds go to the regions, which then distribute them to educational institutions, and the regions are required to add their own funds to support the program," the Izvestia interlocutor clarifies.
At the same time, there is no single methodology for calculating the cost of a dish related to the actual filling of its products, the expert of the Popular Front direction points out. Analytics", Head of the Bureau of Investigation of the "Popular Front" Valery Alekseev.
— The contracts for the purchase of products contain only an approximate menu, which means that the amounts are approximate. Moreover, the calculation is for 100% of children, but there is no such attendance," the expert draws attention.
Meanwhile, the cost of work, equipment, cutlery upgrades, and so on are not taken into account at all, the analyst emphasizes.
As a result, the fixed payments do not cover the actual costs of purchasing products that meet sanitary standards and quality standards, Betrozov is convinced.
— Regional budgets cannot always compensate for the missing funding, as their capabilities are limited by their own revenues and spending priorities. As a result, schools find themselves in a situation where compliance with legal requirements becomes almost impossible without a deterioration in the quality of the program," the lawyer explains.
Indexing subsidies to the inflation rate will not make food more affordable in the literal sense, since it is already provided free of charge to all primary school students. However, it will ensure the stability of the program and prevent further deterioration of its quality, the expert believes.
— If subsidies are adjusted annually to reflect the official inflation rate, this will preserve their real purchasing power. Thus, schools will be able to purchase food at market prices without having to save on volume or quality, Betrozov is sure.
The unattainable ideal
Meanwhile, the menu of schoolchildren today often contains distortions that can negatively affect the child's health, warns Maria Nichegovskaya, a family nutritionist, a member of the Association of nutritionists and health coaches. The main problems include a lack of healthy fats and an excess of fast carbohydrates and sugar. Such an imbalance can provoke sudden sugar spikes and reduce concentration.
Indexing subsidies can help solve the problem, but it is important not only to increase the amount, but also to review the menu of school canteens, the specialist emphasizes.
— You need to add greens, different types of cabbage, pumpkin, beets, berries to the menu, offer more seasonal vegetables, not just potatoes and carrots, include whole—grain cereals (buckwheat, oatmeal, bulgur, millet), replace white bread with whole-grain bread and reduce the amount of baking, - recommends the nutritionist.
However, such an improvement in the quality of food will be possible only if the indexation not only corresponds to the general level of inflation, but also takes into account the specifics of rising prices for products used in school lunches, says Sean Betrozov.
"If indexation is linked only to the general inflation rate, it will partially compensate for the increase in costs, but it may not fully cover the increase in the cost of key products," he notes.
The problem is not limited to a lack of funds. It is necessary to pay attention not only to the food, but also to what is "around the plate," Valery Alekseev is sure. For example, the issue of personnel is acute.
To fully improve the quality of school meals, its cost should be increased 5-7 times, Alekseev is convinced.
— When a school breakfast costs 500 rubles per person, there will be such competition, service and quality that parents themselves will be ready to go to school for breakfast. But this is still an unattainable task," the expert believes.
Investing in the future
For the next three years, about 214.9 billion rubles have been allocated in the federal budget for subsidies for school meals, says Ekaterina Pondo, Candidate of Economics, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation. The amount of funding for all education in the period from 2025 to 2027 provides for a steady annual growth, which generally corresponds to the expected inflation rate.
The indexation of subsidies will place an additional burden on the federal budget, warns Oleg Baksansky, professor of the Department of Educational Psychology at the Institute of Pedagogy and Psychology at Moscow State University. The costs may amount to about 40 billion rubles a year, he predicts. The exact scale of the additional costs will depend on the number of students, the inflation rate and the base amount of subsidies, says Sean Betrozov.
In the short term, the federal budget will face the need to find additional funds, which may require either a reallocation of existing expenditures or an increase in the revenue side of the budget, the lawyer notes.
However, these expenditures can be considered as investments in children's health and reducing social inequality, which in the long run can reduce health and social support costs.
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