Wellness Policy Development Tool

In June 2004, the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act was signed into law, making it mandatory for all local education agencies participating in the National School Lunch Program to create a local wellness policy by June 2006.

Action for Healthy Kids, with input from our State Teams and Partner organizations, has gathered wellness policies from districts and states across the nation to provide examples of language and guidelines. Our collection is not comprehensive of all wellness policies in existence, but rather displays a sampling of differing wellness policies sorted relative to specific Policy Areas.

Follow the steps below and use the searchable database to find ideas for policy options that meet your district's needs.

Step 1: Download the Wellness Policy Template Document

To begin, download this template and use it to guide the development of your policy. Save and name the Word document on your computer.

For ideas on components to include in the various wellness policy areas for nutrition education, nutrition standards or physical activity, click here to view fundamental elements to consider when developing your local wellness policy .

Once you've downloaded the template, move on to the searchable database to review and select language from model or existing policies.