The Responsibility Project^®. Exploring what it means to do the right thing

The Cookie Crumbles: Banning School Bake Sales

33 Comments

December 2, 2008 by Kathy McManus

You can have your cake and eat it too in California, but if you do so at a school bake sale, you might be breaking the law.

Tough new government nutrition standards that are being enforced in public schools state-wide are eliminating foods that can be sold on-site during the school day. Long-time bake sale favorites like cookies and cupcakes are disappearing because they exceed legally-mandated limits on sugar, fat and calories.

Comfort food is suddenly being wrapped in uncomfortable language like nutritional disobedience and competitive foods, as policy makers try to reduce unhealthy consumption to "do for junk food what smoking bans and taxes did for tobacco" according to one health scientist.

"The intent of the legislation was not to eliminate bake sales, but to improve the quality of food that’s available to students," said the policy director of the California Center for Public Advocacy, one of the sponsors of the legislation. "Schools were financially dependent on selling food to kids that was fundamentally bad for them."

But opponents of the culinary crackdown say it’s half-baked. "Bake sales are one of the quickest and easiest ways for schools to raise money," said the president of one local California PTA. "To limit this option has a significant impact on fundraising. And as a parent, it should really be my choice if I want to buy my child a cookie or slice of pizza after school."

While a California kindergarten offered a “Healthy Halloween vegetable platter,” as a trick-or-treat alternative, one critic questioned the larger impact of a cupcake prohibition. "Children should learn that there are many foods available, and the responsibility is theirs to choose the best and healthiest foods. Instead, through limiting their choices, we are teaching them to blindly trust whatever is placed before them and to forego individual responsibility."

Tell us what you think: Have bake sales become nutritionally irresponsible dinosaurs? What should take priority—raising healthier children or letting them eat cake?

33 Comments

What do you think? Leave a comment

• December 3, 2008 by Alice Armstrong

  Give me a break! How many bake sales do schools have? What should they sell--vitamins? Government intrusion into our lives has become intolerable! What's next? Forbidding sales of sugar, flour, butter, eggs? Restaurants that offer only oatmeal or vegetables?

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• December 3, 2008 by Vix

  I think it is crazy that schools have to have bake sales to provide the services they were created for, educating our children. How about going back to basics, you have a child in school you are responsible to the school, used to be that each child had to bring a piece of wood to school to help heat the class room, if you did not bring one you sat on the outside furthest from the heat. Why should people who do not have children in school have to pay?

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  • December 27, 2008 by

    Everyone should help pay for schools because everyone went to schools.

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    • December 29, 2008 by Vix

      I choose not to have children, why should I pay to send any child to school? Yes, I went to school, and I believe my parents should have been responsible for sending me to school.

• December 24, 2008 by Aileen Gunter

  School bake sales are not making our kids unhealthy or obese. Neither is the occasional treat teachers USED to be able to give students. Could it have anything to do with hours in front of TV and video games? Government tries to cure everything at school, when that is not where the problem lies.

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• December 28, 2008 by

  Did it ever dawn on anyone that bake sales encourage a sense of community amongst parents? I think people are blowing this way out of proportion. Healthy living is a responsibility of parents. Eliminating a bake sale at school is not going to fix the big problem here!

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  • December 29, 2008 by Vix

    I recently read a news article about a family that has 18(?) children... Certainly it is their choice to have so many children, but do you care to bet on how much assistance they have received???

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    • January 9, 2009 by

      I am not sure what state that family lives in Vix, but I am willing to bet that they don't get anymore than about $4-500.00. In most states there is a limit on the children you can claim on food stamps, medicaid, and fitap or tanf payments. I should know, I'm a social worker and also a recipient of food stamps and the sad part is that my husband and I both work and get paid what I once thought to be quite well. You just have to admit there are people who need the help. And YES we are ALL responsible for sending the nation's youth to school to be educated. Education is key in helping our youth succeed in life. Those who could not afford to send their kids to school if there were no funding available would probably be visiting their kids in jail instead of being able to raise healthy and productive individuals. Just because you have decided not to have kids does not mean you shouldn't do your part to prevent our children from committing crime because of boredom or because they need money. And yes we need bake sales. our schools don't get enough from government funding. sure we can find healthier ways to bake our sweeties and keep our children fit, but we shouldn't be forced to.

• January 6, 2009 by Roxy

  I think this is a smart decision. There are so many overweight children today. Healthy cupcakes does not equal a bad tasting cupcake, so this should not be a problem.

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• January 6, 2009 by

  We believe that people should be able to choose their own food. the amount of sugar and fat that enter their bodies should be their decision. We think that the school should provide both healthy and sugary snacks, but at the end of the day it is the child's parents who should control the nutrition intake.

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• January 9, 2009 by

  When we vote for bigger government, we get bigger government. We need to constantly remind our senators, representatives, the president, etc. that the American people desire to have freedom and do not wish to be told how to live our lives. This kind of nonsense will keep happening until we start to take the threat of bigger government & political correctness seriously, and demand that it stop.

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• January 9, 2009 by

  I think this legislation has some valuable insights and goals to alleviate pressure on cafeterias. Couldn't a ban on commercialized junk food remain while allowing bake sales to continue? Or an exception in the calorie limits is made for foods brought by community members? I think the law is just in trying to protect kids from falling victim at a young age to the aggressive advertising and pressures of the commercial junk food industry, but bake sales shouldn't have to be a casualty of the battle.

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• January 9, 2009 by

  You know the schools around here don't allow you to send baked goods, cookies, or cupcakes for birthdays and say they are promoting healthier eating. Funny thing is, that they have a potluck at every PTO meeting and I still have to eat before I leave the house because you wont find anything health conscious at those things. There are usually about 3 desserts to every saturated fat filled casserole. Why is it what is good for the goose is never good for the gander????

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  • April 16, 2009 by Wendy

    I believe that school meals and provided snacks should be nutritious. I can't believe that chocolate milk is an option - now nutritious is that? I was amazed to find that our local school district did not allow home prepared foods for any school event without the preparer having a recent TB test on file. However, one PTA meeting sent multiple attendees to the doc with campylobacter! Children will be faced with nutrition choices every day. I think that events like bake sales should provide nutritious options with the regular options. But I also think the government should butt out of those events and choices. If the government wants more control, they should provide better funding! School teachers should have to spend their meager wages to provide for their students / learning environments. How can we raise a generation of readers in classrooms with insufficient books!? Where are those tax dollars?

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• January 9, 2009 by

  are they going to start banning fat kids from coming to school too?

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• January 9, 2009 by

  We are all responsible for each child's education, whether we have children or not. It's not just an issue of them ending up in jail, otherwise, it's that they will be responsible for our future. They are our connection to future generations and they will be responsible for the future success of our cities, forests, animal rights, our country, everything.

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• January 14, 2009 by Vix

  It used to be that children were raised by the community, a child who did something wrong would get yelled at and sent home to find the parents already knew and get yelled at again... Now no one dares say anything to a child doing wrong for fear of being sued or just because they do not want to be involved AND you say it is the responsibility of the community to educate all youth??? I DO NOT BELIEVE YOU!

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