By Shruti Dave
Opinions Editor

Quite an unwelcome sight will welcome middle schoolers around the state come January—no soda-vending machines. And elementary school students will find an even more severe change—not only an end to soda, but also limited food choices.

Such will be the effects of California Senate Bill 19 (SB 19), or the Pupil Nutrition, Health and Achievement Act, which prohibits selling foods that do not meet the state’s fat and sugar standards anywhere on elementary campuses or the sale of carbonated drinks at middle schools. Signed into law in October of 2001, it will be enforced starting January 2004.

In the wake of the implementation of SB 19, there has been a new rallying cry throughout California. SB 19 creator State Senator Martha Escutia is pushing for a “no soda, no junk food” bill for state high schools.

“The health of our young people is at risk because of the eating environment at our schools.… This might be a bill that takes a few years to get passed, but I’m very persistent.… I will remove junk foods from schools in the next four years,” Escutia said to the State Senate.

A bill limiting food choices for middle schools is ridiculous enough, but from the logistical, monetary and ethical standpoints, this proposed SB is nothing more than a BS attempt at fixing a much deeper issue.

The average high school student, according to the North County Times, buys 24 cans of soda from school machines in a year. That’s less than one can per week. One can per week certainly isn’t harming students.

And students on average buy less than 14 pieces of candy per year, which isn’t the cause of the adolescent obesity that SB 19 claims to attack. However, schools reap huge benefits from the sale of candy and soda.

“ASB gets a percent of the sales [of]…the coke [and candy] products in the student store. All money from ASB goes directly to supporting the student body,” Assistant Principal Wynne Satterwhite said.

In fact, most of the money made from soda and candy saoles goes to two main outlets: clubs and sports, which are often the first activities to be hit by a lack of funds.

SB 19 at the high school or middle school level would then defeat its own purpose of decreasing student obesity by cutting into the physical fitness programs that prevent just that.

“As an elementary school district, we have no commercial endorsement...for students, but many of our elementary schools and middle schools have student stores where they sell various food items to raise money for booster clubs and sports activities. It’s the indirect funding that would be impacted,” MV School District trustee Rose Filicetti told the Mountain View Voice.

For example, one county in Wyoming cut in-school soda sales. The schools lost over $30,000 annually in funding. Amidst recent state budget cuts, California schools are hardly prepared to deal with such a loss.

“While selling junk food...brings in money for schools, it does so at the expense of our children’s health—[not] an acceptable tradeoff,” Escortia said.

How much of a “tradeoff” would really exist is up in the air. Ending the sale of soda and junk food at schools would in no way, shape or form stop students from drinking Coca-Cola or eating Skittles.

How much harder would it be for students to bring candy or soda from home? Not much. Moreover, aren’t high school students at the level at which they can make food choices as they see fit? Shouldn’t 13 to 18-year-olds be able to make competent life decisions without bureaucratic intervention?

“When you get to high school, no kid wants…to have the government say what you can and can’t do about food. That’s just a fact,” Satterwhite said.

But until Sacramento understands that fact, students around the state will be unduly suffering—and not because they have to go the extra mile to get junk food. Students will suffer because they will be forced to miss out on fundamental academic and extracurricular opportunities for the sake of one soda a week.

This is entirely unacceptable. Students should not be forced to lose activities for a false solution.

Until this BS attempt becomes something more substantial that might actually help California’s youth, it should be flushed right down the drain.