At the middle- & high-school levels, food sales have been a huge source of revenue for parent organizations. Our school last year netted approximately $25,000 by re-selling Pizza Hut personal pan pizzas, Chik-Fil-A sandwiches, and Quiznos subs.

Enter the Texas Department of Agriculture, who hiding behind a childhood obesity initiative, implements nutrition guidelines regarding portion size, fat content, etc. O.K. - so we bought into that. We went to our vendors who revamped how they make what they make so that we fit into all the little holes they created. But wait - there's more - you cannot compete with the food services department even if you meet the nutrition guidelines, and I'm told it's because we were only providing "one component of a well-balanced meal" as opposed to a totally nutritious meal for the students.

Almost believable - right? Except that food services is allowed to sell Pappa John's pizza by the slice - and whole pizzas. They are also allowed so sell sausage on a stick, foot long hot-dogs, corndogs, ice cream, cookies, donuts, and slushy drinks (to name a few) as a-la-carte items.

Have any other schools in Texas had any experience challenging the legality of the new "regulations" (that's what they are, they are NOT legislation yet, they are regulations) and if so with what success.

The 1700 students at our school would pay $3.00 for a sandwich or a pizza, but we need our $25,000 to fund the programs we have in the past.