Health advocates cheered a national agreement Wednesday to remove sugar-laden soft drinks from schools as a win in the fight against obesity.
But local school districts that have enjoyed hefty revenues from the beverage sales could find it hard to swallow.
PepsiCo Inc., Coca-Cola Co. and Cadbury Schweppes PLC, along with the American Beverage Association, say they will offer primarily lower-calorie and smaller-portioned beverages in school vending machines. Full- sugar soda and whole milk will no longer be offered in the vast majority of schools.
The agreement, to be phased in over the next three years, was brokered by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a collaboration between the William J. Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association. It was announced by the former president and the distributors.
Some students greeted the news with trepidation.
“I don’t like the idea,” 17-year- old Adrian Martinez said as he waited in the Jefferson High School cafeteria in Edgewater. “I don’t drink coffee. I like Mountain Dew. It helps me get energy.”
His friend, sophomore Gabriel Baca, 17, said he drinks about three cans of soda a day. “If that happens, then I’ll just have to get it from home.”
Some adults were enthusiastic about the changes.
“I think this a great step in the right direction,” said state House Majority Leader Alice Madden of Boulder, whose bill to require schools to stock vending machines with healthy alternatives was vetoed by Gov. Bill Owens. “Just as you wouldn’t put bad fuel in your car, we shouldn’t put bad fuel in our children,” she said.
It isn’t clear what the agreement means for area school districts that have gained millions in revenue in exchange for giving soft-drink companies exclusive rights to sell their products on school property.
“We are just now learning about this new policy,” said Tustin Amole, spokeswoman for the Cherry Creek School District, which joined the Littleton and Douglas County school districts in an exclusive 10-year contract with Coke in 1999.
What’s clear is that the contract has been a boon to school programs. It guarantees a total of $28 million for the three districts, Amole said.
Amole says her district has spent $2.1 million to build a middle school and $2 million for literacy programs.
Colorado Springs School District 11, which is in the ninth year of a 10-year agreement with Coke, collected $670,700 annually for the first three years of the contract and is guaranteed $482,330 every year after, said John Elliott, who oversees district contracts.
But a national focus on childhood obesity may have already put a dent in the perceived hold that soft-drink companies have had in schools.
Elliott said his district’s soft- drink contract will not be renewed after the 2006-07 school year, largely because sales fell far short of expectations.
He said he doesn’t know where the district will turn to for a similar revenue source.
Although local districts may be worried about possible revenue losses, the impact of the new agreements isn’t expected to affect the big beverage companies. John Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest, which compiles extensive data on the beverage industry, said the deal would have no impact on the $63billion beverage industry’s bottom line.
“The sale of sugar carbonated sodas in schools is a tiny, tiny part of their overall volume,” Sicher said. “Financially, on the big companies, it will have virtually no impact.”
Toney Anaya, vice president of public relations for Coca- Cola Enterprises’ west-central region, said the company has contracts with about a dozen school districts in Colorado, including in Pueblo, Greeley, the Denver metro area and Colorado Springs.
“We’re at the point now, as the local bottler, of trying to figure out what this thing is going to look like,” he said of the changes. “The climate has changed. The entire focus on health and wellness has been a wake-up call to everybody.”
Under the new guidelines, elementary schools will sell only water, and 8-ounce servings of milk and 100 percent juice. At middle schools, serving sizes will be bumped up to 10 ounces.
In high schools, students will have more choices, including unsweetened teas, diet sodas and sports drinks.
That comes as welcome news to José Martinez, principal of Jefferson High School in the Jefferson County School District, which has an eight-year contract with Pepsi.
Martinez pushed to have seven Pepsi machines reduced to two. With seven, the Edgewater school picked up an extra $1,000 in revenue per quarter. Now, with just two, the revenue has dropped to as little as $32.
“I’m OK with that,” he said. “Health and nutrition has to be a focus.”
Dan Hopkins, spokesman for Owens, called Wednesday’s announcement “a great example of something that can be accomplished without having to pass legislation.” Owens vetoed Madden’s bill earlier this year, saying he didn’t want to micromanage schools.
But the change can’t come too soon for Jefferson High student Vicki Brown, 17, who had a half- full bottle of Lipton Brisk tea in her backpack.
“I don’t like pop,” she said.
