Table 3.
Changes in meal offerings and foodservice operations reported by Californian school food authorities implementing the state’s USM policy during the SY 2022–2023, stratified by FRPM eligibility and enrollment size.
| Change | FRPM Eligibility 1 | Enrollment Size 2 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low (n = 114) |
High (n = 249) |
p-Value | Small (n = 198) |
Medium (n = 104) |
Large (n = 64) |
p-Value | ||||||
| n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | |||
| Meal quality 3 | ||||||||||||
| Increased quality of meals | 54 | 47.4 | 108 | 43.4 | 0.17 | 75 | 37.9 | 51 | 49.0 | 36 | 56.3 | 0.001 a,b |
| Changed menus to appeal to more students | 46 | 40.4 | 95 | 38.2 | 0.85 | 65 | 32.8 | 46 | 44.2 | 30 | 46.9 | 0.03 a |
| Increased use of scratch cooking | 40 | 35.1 | 82 | 32.9 | 0.35 | 61 | 30.8 | 38 | 36.5 | 23 | 35.9 | 0.001 a |
| Foodservice operations 3 | ||||||||||||
| Increased effort to obtain income information | 57 | 50.0 | 87 | 34.9 | 0.0001 | 76 | 38.4 | 51 | 49.0 | 19 | 29.7 | 0.09 |
| Increased salaries/benefits for foodservice staff | 50 | 43.9 | 84 | 33.7 | 0.02 | 52 | 26.3 | 52 | 50.0 | 31 | 48.4 | 0.0001 a,b |
1 Free or reduced-price meal (FRPM) eligibility was defined as SFAs with low FRPM eligibility (40% or fewer FRPM students) vs. high FRPM eligibility (SFAs with more than 40% FRPM students) in the SY 2022–2023. 2 Enrollment size was defined as small (≤2499 students), medium (2500 to 9999 students), and large (≥10,000 students). p-values for size represent the overall effect of enrollment size. The statistical significance for pairwise comparisons is indicated as follows: a difference between medium and small SFAs; b difference between large and small SFAs; no significant differences were observed between medium and large SFAs. 3 Frequencies representing SFAs that identified the changes in most or all schools (≥50%). Other answer options were: “some schools (25–49%)” and “none or few schools (<25%)”.