Former President Bill Clinton and officials from a health foundation on Monday unveiled a plan to fight childhood obesity with better school meals and more exercise.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation put up an $8 million grant to back the Clinton-backed Alliance for a Healthier Generation, which also will work with teachers to encourage them to be healthier role models for kids.

More than 9 million U.S. children over the age of 6 are considered obese, and during the past three decades, obesity rates tripled among U.S. children aged 6 to 11, according to data from the Johnson Foundation.

“If the present trends continue, this generation could be the first to have shorter expected life spans than their parents,” Clinton told a news conference at a Manhattan elementary school that will participate in the program.

With many U.S. schools facing budget constrictions and pressure to focus on core academic subjects rather than health and fitness, Clinton said his group would work with food suppliers to find low-cost supplies of healthy meals and snacks for students, and with sporting goods suppliers to provide lower cost athletic equipment for gym classes.

“We want to help to change the economics that are keeping schools from providing better meal options and greater access to physical activity,” Clinton said.

The program will initially work with 253 schools in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

“We want to halt the growth of childhood obesity by 2010 and reverse the trend by 2015,” said Clinton, who often struggled with his weight during his presidency and who has had heart surgery since leaving office.