A program to get more fresh and locally sourced food to Hawaii’s students has stalled so far, but bills going through the state Legislature could give it a boost.

The Farm to School program, which began in 2015, spawned pilot programs that provided more fresh and local products used in scratch-cooked meals for thousands of students in the Kohala area on Hawaii island and in Mililani on Oahu.

In 2021 the Department of Education was given control of the program after Gov. David Ige signed into law Act 175, which also gave the department the responsibility of locally sourcing 30% of the food served in public schools by 2030.

Several bills going through the Legislature were introduced this year to support the program and DOE in reaching those goals.

House Bill 2304 would appropriate funding for a system to collect food-related data in schools, training for cafeteria staff for food preparation and procurement, and Farm to School consultants. House Bill 1864 also provides funding, both for cafeteria upgrades and staff training to aid in the program’s progress.

Both bills passed the House of Representatives and are awaiting hearings in the Senate.

The bills aim to address the program’s roadblocks, some of which were noted in DOE’s annual report to the Legislature on the program in December.

The report said the department’s School Food Serv­ices Branch does not yet have enough funding for staff training, local food procurement or appropriate data collection.

Problems around data collection to track food inventory and purchasing at schools have been an oft-discussed issue for the program.

Randall Tanaka, assistant superintendent of the DOE’s Office of Facilities and Operations, did not respond to Honolulu Star-Advertiser questions about the program, but at a Hawaii Agriculture Foundation event in January, he said data collection is difficult in part because of decentralization of food procurement at public schools.

“We have very poor data because we’re a highly decentralized purchasing system; every school buys on its own,” Tanaka said. “I can’t tell you if that kitchen manager is … buying from his uncle. That’s how we purchase currently. We need data. I need to know what we’re doing and what we’re buying.”

DOE did purchase software called eTrition to collect that data, according to Daniela Spoto, director of anti-hunger initiatives for the Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, but it was never implemented. He said the Farm to School program as a whole was set aside once the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020.

“They had purchased … these specific modules for inventory management and purchasing, but they were never implemented,” Spoto said. “The pandemic hit. and they basically completely abandoned the project.”

During a Feb. 16 legislative hearing on HB 2304, Tanaka said DOE is looking for new software because the one it currently has is “inadequate in terms of managing not only our meal counts, but our inventory and meal planning program.”

In addition to software issues, Tanaka admitted during the February hearing that there has been a “failure of effort” in implementing Farm to School practices, despite the success of two pilot programs where cafeteria staff at select schools were trained in preparation of new menu items and cooking using fresh food.

In 2016, schools in the Kohala area became the first sites for a Farm to School pilot program. The project resulted in a doubling of locally produced food purchases, increased lunch participation and lower food costs.

When Mililani High School, one of DOE’s largest schools based on enrollment, became the second pilot site in 2017, local food procurement jumped from 3% to 15%, lunch participation increased from 14% to 22% and food costs decreased by $108,000.

But additional training for staff, equipment and operations for the more than 230 other DOE school kitchens need to take place to get the program moving again, Tanaka said.

Additionally, a Farm to School coordinator position, which was created in 2021 through Act 175, has yet to be filled, although a job opening was posted by DOE on March 1.

Rep. Amy Perruso (D, Wahiawa-­Whitmore-Poamoho), vice chair of the House Committee on Agriculture and author of HB 1864, also hopes to promote Farm to School by providing incentives for principals.

While acknowledging the difficulties in working through a decentralized system of food purchasing, Perruso said principals have the ability to push for progress at their own schools.

“Our system is both centralized and super decentralized. Principals have a lot of power and a lot of autonomy with respect to their hiring practices and how they manage the school cafeterias,” Perruso said.

To encourage administrative support at the school level, she introduced a resolution that would include Farm to School progress as part of a principal’s evaluation.

While Kohala and Mili­lani pilot programs were built by developing new menus and staff training on food preparation and procurement, the DOE’s annual report suggests there is more interest among officials in creating automated centralized kitchens near farms.

During the Hawaii Agriculture Foundation event in January, Tanaka said he wants to use the model of centralized kitchens used by the Los Angeles Unified School District, which produces 100,000 student meals per day, adding that such a system already exists in Hawaii in the form of Zippy’s restaurants.

Perruso said the use of centralized kitchens and school kitchens that cook from scratch can coexist, but said Tanaka’s idea of a centralized kitchen doesn’t appear to provide fresh, locally grown food to Hawaii’s kids.

“He’s thinking about the Zippy’s model, so we’re going to make chili and ship it out to all the schools,” she said. “It’s the same processed­-food problem, so it’s not really helping.”

The DOE, in a statement to the Star-Advertiser, said, “As the largest institutional buyer of food in the state, the Department is actively working with local farmers to align our school menus with products that they can adequately and consistently produce, at our price point as a public agency.”