Comment on FR Doc # 2012-01835

If the mission of the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service is to provide needy families with more nutritional food options, then I think that this proposed rule is absolutely proper. Consolidating SNAP goals into the existing National School Lunch Program is a step toward progressing the impact of SNAP in an efficient and systematic way. The data that this rule looks to collect will give an accurate and streamlined report on how many children could be and are affected by SNAP. Such data is necessary to practically increase the effect of the program. The portion of the proposed rule that I find especially useful is the requirement for a continued improvement plan when benchmarks are not met. My confusion with this plan, however, is with the fact that the benchmarks stop shy of one hundred percent coverage of eligible students. As an agency whose purpose is ensuring the nutritional needs of eligible students, I don’t understand why 95% is the maximum goal set for years to come. This rule, presumably, would streamline the data collection process such that both monetary and human capital can be more efficiently allocated. With such an effect, why not max out the goal? What further obstacles exist that can’t be addressed with time and experience? As a former educator, I believe that this data is paramount to equalizing the playing field amongst students; hungry children tend not to focus quite as well. Thus, my only concern with the proposed rule is its failure to address the needs of all the relevant parties.