Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has released a graphic on healthy school meals and links to accounts of schools that have succeeded in implementing the healthier meal school rules under the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act.

In the reported success stories, schools across the country “explain how they’re staying on budget and offering students more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains every day,” the foundation said in a news release.

“The changes they’ve made — like renegotiating contracts, partnering with local farms, and involving students in taste tests — benefit not only hundreds of thousands of students, but also parents, the schools themselves, and their local communities,” the group said.

The Robert Wood Johnson data is being released as the House is expected to take up an appropriations bill this week that would require the Agriculture Department to grant waivers to schools that say they have lost money in their lunch program for six months.

The School Nutrition Association, which represents school food service directors and the companies that supply foods, asked for the waiver, but a wide range of nutrition and medical groups and the Obama administration oppose it.

The Senate Agriculture Committee is also scheduled to hold a hearing on the 2015 reauthorization of the child nutrition programs including school meals on Thursday.

▪ Robert Wood Johnson Foundation — Healthier School Meals Matter