By Molly Wharton, Aug. 6, 2014, Nationalreview.com

A school board president in Wisconsin has decided to opt out of a program that provides federal funding for school meals because of new federal guidelines that are restricting what foods can be served in schools, both in and out of the cafeteria.

“These guidelines seemed to be overly onerous; they weren’t meeting our community standard,” Rick Petfalski of the Muskego-Norway School District tellsNational Review. “These are decisions that are best made at the local level.”

Guidelines implemented two years ago that determined what could be served in school cafeterias had already led students to cut back on the number of meals they were buying, and students were leaving the lunchroom hungry. But new guidelines that would have taken effect on July 1 pushed the federal control even further. The regulations “stepped out of the lunch room and into bake sales and concessions,” he explained.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 and the Let’s Move! campaign, both of which are championed by First Lady Michelle Obama, were launched to reduce childhood obesity through federal regulation. According to The Wall Street Journal, the law overhauled nutrition standards that affect more than 30 million children.

The nutrition standards, which cover schools that participate in the National School Lunch Program, do not just determine which foods can be served for lunch in the cafeteria. As of July 1, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Smart Snacksstandard will also determine nutritional standards for all foods and beverages sold during the school day in vending machines and even student bake sales or fundraisers.