Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

There's something different about the french fries served in the Georgetown High School cafeteria, students say.

Crisp, golden and carrying the very faintest sheen of grease, Georgetown's fries are cooked in vats of hot vegetable oil and are the only fries in Central Texas school cafeterias to be served deep-fried.

Four years after the Texas Department of Agriculture announced plans to ban deep-frying from public school cafeterias and limit the serving of unhealthy high-fat, high-sugar foods, Georgetown is one of 14 Texas public school districts still deep-frying. All other Central Texas districts have pulled the plug.

Under the 2004 Texas Public School Nutrition Policy, which regulates everything from portion sizes to what foods are and aren't allowed to be served on campus, schools that participate in federal school meal programs should have unplugged their deep fryers before the first day of the 2007-08 school year. But the Agriculture Department has allowed school districts to apply for an extension to keep the fryers going until Aug. 1, 2009.

Some districts say they need the extension because they can't afford to buy new ovens to replace the fryers this year. Other districts say there's no better way to get thousands of fries sufficiently golden-crisp before the end-of-lunch bell rings.

If state agriculture officials catch a school district using fryers after the August deadline, the district won't receive its federal meal reimbursements for the days the fryer was used. For every meal served to a low-income student under the federal meal program, districts receive up to $2.74 in subsidies for lunches and up to $1.68 for breakfasts.

In general, the more low-income students a district has, the more dependent its food service budget is on the federal school meal program funds.

Districts requesting an extension range in size from the 188-student Zephyr school district, halfway between Killeen and Abilene, to the 53,000-student Plano district, in the Dallas metro area. Six of the districts have percentages of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches higher than the state average of 55 percent.

All of the districts requesting additional time are using fryers only in middle and high schools.

State health officials estimate that 35 percent of Texas schoolchildren are obese. And students in middle and high school tend to be less fit than elementary students.

A 2.5-ounce serving of deep-fried french fries has 226 calories and 12 grams of fat, about 46 percent more calories than oven-baked fries and with twice as much fat, according to U.S. government research. That's about 15 percent of the recommended daily fat for a teenage girl and 12 percent for a boy.

Most school districts with active deep fryers use unsaturated fats such as vegetable oil rather than the saturated fats and trans fats that might increase the risk of heart disease. But consuming too much fat, regardless of the type, can lead to being overweight or obese, which in later life is linked to such risks as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, certain cancers and premature death.

Karen Kovach, director of nutrition services for the Georgetown school district, said the district's two deep fryers, both in Georgetown High School's cafeteria, are used mainly for french fries, one of the most popular side dishes. Last year, the district received about $1.9 million through federal school meal programs, district financial officer David McLaughlin said. About 40 percent of its 9,700 students were eligible for free or reduced-price meals.

The french fries the cafeteria turns out rival McDonald's, said Georgetown sophomore Stefan Huddleston.

"They're not as greasy," he said. "They actually taste a little healthier than McDonald's (fries) do."

Stefan's brother Spencer Huddleston, a Georgetown senior, said he opts for a side of fries most school days, even though he knows an apple or a bowl of salad might be better for him.

"Fries taste good," he said, shrugging.

Although fries are one of the most popular side dish options at Georgetown High — students can choose up to two sides with their entree or buy items a la carte — they're not the only option. The school also offers a 40-item salad bar, a selection of fresh fruits and vegetables, and rotating special items such as Caesar salad with low-fat dressing and fresh Romaine lettuce, Kovach said.

The high school kitchen's two ovens aren't up to pumping out the 400 servings of french fries demanded each day, Kovach said. Installing enough ovens to cook the fries and other previously fried foods would cost more than $1 million, she said, a project district administrators plan to take to voters in a proposed May 2009 bond referendum.

Another district on the list, Frisco, was awarded "District of Excellence" honors in 2004 by the School Nutrition Association in recognition of its nutrition classes and efforts to serve "healthy delicious foods."

But the 23,700-student district, located north of Dallas, still has deep fryers bubbling at seven of its nine middle schools, according to the district's extension request. The fryers are used to cook french fries and chicken strips, child nutrition director Debera Tredennick said.

Frisco had budgeted money to replace the fryers with ovens this year, but increased fuel and food costs ate up the funds, forcing the district, where 10 percent of students qualify for federal meal programs, to postpone buying new equipment, she said. The district plans to be fryer-free by 2012, according to its letter to the state.

Replacing the fryers with ovens would cost about $500,000, Tredennick said.

Frisco's food service department, a $10 million operation that received about $1.3 million last year through federal school meal programs, makes "many, many thousands of dollars" — Tredennick said she didn't immediately know exactly how much — a year from french fry sales, bolstering the department's bottom line.

Taking fries off the menu or replacing deep-fried french fries with sometimes limp, soggy oven-baked fries could mean the loss of a "substantial amount" of revenue, she said.

South of Austin, Beth Wallace, the Comal district's child nutrition director, also worries about losing revenue if she takes fries off the menu. After spending about $100,000 to replace deep fryers in elementary and middle schools, the district has fryers worth about $120,000 in storage, Wallace said.

"We'll get pennies on the dollar for them when we auction them," she said. "But I don't see that we have any other options."