State School Superintendent Steve Paine urged state lawmakers Monday to watch Cabell County when it comes to changing the food that children eat at school.

Responding to a question from a House Finance Committee member, Paine said two schools in Cabell County have been chosen to go from "brown and serve" type food to "cooking from scratch."

The superintendent says it won't be cheap. He says county has applied for a $50,000 grant to pay for professional development. Paine says food service workers will have to be retrained.

"You have to be really careful at moving forward too quickly so you don't lose the support of the people we rely on to prepare the food for the kids," Paine said.

The plan in Cabell County is to spread the change through the entire school system in years to come. State Superintendent Paine predicts it would take at least two years to get good data on how such a switch would improve the health of students across the state.

"We need to evaluate the two schools in Cabell County and learn what we can," Paine said.