As Kelli Carbaugh loaded a snack vending machine Friday in the front lobby of Lawrence High School, she disputed the notion that students had only junk food to choose from.

“There’s granola bars,” the LHS senior said, looking over the offerings. “And these things with the raisins in them, and these fruit nut things.”

Then she looked back at the row of Doritos. “Those sell better,” she admitted.

Next year students might see more granola and fewer potato chips at school. The Kansas Legislature is considering a bill that would require high school vending machine offerings to comprise at least 50 percent “healthy” foods. In elementary and junior high, all the options would be healthy.

According to the bill, the healthy alternatives should include bottled water, milk, 100 percent fruit juices, dairy products, fruit and vegetables — but no foods defined by the federal government as having “minimal nutritional value.”

“I think there’s a large concern about the growing problem of obesity, particularly in our youth, and the consequences of that,” said Rep. Peggy Mast, R-Emporia, vice chairwoman of the Kansas House Committee on Health and Human Services, which heard testimony on the bill this week.

Big bucks at stake

But schools that rely on vending contracts to augment their budgets have raised concerns about the bill. Mast said she’d heard of one Kansas school that took in more than $300,000 a year from the sale of snacks to students.

Kaleigh McGorge, a senior at Lawrence High School, stocks The Lions Den snack shop at LHS. The state Legislature is considering a bill that would limit sales of unhealthy food and drinks at public schools. McGorge worked at the school Friday.

“We have real concerns about knowing what the financial impact would be on schools with vending contracts,” said Pat Baker, deputy executive director of the Kansas Association of School Boards.

In Lawrence, Supt. Randy Weseman agreed. The Lawrence school board voted unanimously in October to approve a district-operated vending machines program that could give the district about $98,000 a year from the sales of soft drinks alone.

“The loss of that money would be significant,” Weseman said Friday. “If we had to replace that money, we’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

The bill also prohibits teachers from using candy as a reward in the classroom.

“We’ll have to offer broccoli,” Weseman said.

Rising obesity

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A fall study by the Institute of Medicine suggested that, nationally, obesity has doubled among teens and tripled for kids ages 6 to 11 since the 1970s — and 40 percent of kids’ daily food intake occurs while they’re at school.

There are no soft drink machines in Lawrence elementary schools, but there are at the junior highs and high schools.

Anthony Birchfield, a senior and co-manager of the Lion’s Den snack shop at LHS, said a number of nutritional offerings were available. Even if junk food was taken away, however, students would find other ways to obtain it.

“They can always go to the gas station,” Birchfield said.

The Kansas Legislature is considering a bill that would require schools to provide only healthy food and drinks in school vending machines. Melissa Carpenter, a senior at Lawrence High School, sips on a soft drink during her lunch break Friday at the school, 1901 La.

Mast said schools didn’t have to choose between finances and fitness.

“I guess we want to see that the people who do put the machines in, and benefit the schools financially, also have healthy options,” she said.

Mast added that she’s not certain when or if the bill will be voted out of committee.

Carbaugh, the LHS senior, said she favored personal responsibility.

“What are they going to do when we get home?” she said “Are they going to regulate our houses?”

— 6News reporter Deanna Richards contributed to this report.