According to the study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 19 percent of schools served french fries to students in 2006, down from 40 percent six years earlier.
Though many schools continue to allow unhealthy items during the school day, there has been a decline of 57 percent in schools that sold cookies or other high-fat baked goods as part of a fundraiser dropped from 67 percent during the six-year period.
The percentage of schools selling cookies, chips, and other junk food to kids dropped between 2000 and 2006. There was also an increase in bottled water sales as students could now select bottled water instead of sugary drinks from school vending machines or snack bars.
More schools have also put healthier school lunch practices into place but the report also adds that the use of junk food and sugary drinks remain widespread in U.S. schools.
Howell Wechsler, director of the CDC's adolescent and school health division said, "These are meaningful changes in large numbers of schools."
The percentage of schools selling french fries dropped by half to 19 percent by 2006 meaning approximately 25,000 schools have stopped serving potatoes, CDC said.
More school districts now have rules requiring physical education for students, but many schools still do not provide the daily physical education class. More than one-fifth of all schools still don't require all students to take physical education.
