Healthier Fundraising in U. S. Elementary Schools: Associations between Policies at the State, District, and School Levels

Lindsey Turner,Jamie F Chriqui,Frank J Chaloupka

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0049890

Abstract

ObjectivesWe examined whether state laws and district policies pertaining to nutritional restrictions on school fundraisers were associated with school policies as reported by administrators in a nationally-representative sample of United States public elementary schools.MethodsWe gathered data on school-level fundraising policies via a mail-back survey during the 2009–10 and 2010–11 school years. Surveys were received from 1,278 public elementary schools (response rate = 60.9%). Data were also gathered on corresponding school district policies and state laws. After removing cases with missing data, the sample size for analysis was 1,215 schools.ResultsAfter controlling for school characteristics, school policies were consistently associated with state laws and district policies, both those pertaining to fundraising generally, as well as specific restrictions on the sale of candy and soda in fundraisers (all Odds Ratios >2.0 and Ps<.05). However, even where district policies and state laws required fundraising restrictions, school policies were not uniformly present; school policies were also in place at only 55.8% of these schools, but were more common at schools in the West (77.1%) and at majority-Latino schools (71.4%), indicating uneven school-level implementation of district policy and state law.ConclusionsDistrict policies and state laws were associated with a higher prevalence of elementary school-level fundraising policies, but many schools that were subject to district policies and state laws did not have school-level restrictions in place, suggesting the need for further attention to factors hindering policy implementation in schools.

Highlights

In recent years, the school food environment has been a focal point in efforts to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic [1,2,3,4]
Competitive products typically include items sold in vending machines, school stores and snack bars, or ala carte in the cafeteria, through in-school fundraisers, and offered to students during classroom parties and as rewards in the classroom [6]
Nationwide data from the 2009–10 school year indicate that 65% of U.S public elementary-school students could purchase foods or beverages from competitive venues [9]

Summary

Introduction

The school food environment has been a focal point in efforts to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic [1,2,3,4]. Competitive products typically include items sold in vending machines, school stores and snack bars, or ala carte in the cafeteria, through in-school fundraisers, and offered to students during classroom parties and as rewards in the classroom [6]. The third School Nutrition and Dietary Assessment Study (SNDA-III), conducted during the 2004–05 school year, indicated that 73% of public elementary schools offered at least one source of competitive foods and beverages, including the traditional sales venues (vending machines, school stores/snack bars, and ala carte lines) as well as fundraisers, parties, and given as rewards in the classroom; 29% of elementary school students consumed competitive items during the average school day [10]. Many studies have examined the availability of competitive foods and beverages in tradition sales venues [10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18], less work has examined the prevalence and characteristics of school fundraising activities, or the extent to which school fundraising practices are associated with policy restrictions on items sold through fundraisers

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion