Advocacy in 2018: Prepare to Charge the Hill

Copyright © 2017 School Nutrition Association. All Rights Reserved. www.schoolnutrition.org


Advocacy in 2018:Prepare to Charge the Hill

February 1, 2018 – 2:00 pm ET


Today’s SNA Moderators

Toni Vega Aiken Senior Manager, Professional Development

School Nutrition Association

Nadia DavisFederal Government Affairs Manager

School Nutrition Association


Questions & Answers

• 30 minute webinar.

• Attendees are in “listen-only”

mode.

• Type your questions into the

“Question” box at any time during

the webinar


Today’s Speakers

Doug DavisSNA Public Policy & Legislation

Committee Chair Director of Food Services

Burlington (Vt.) School District

Sara Gasiorowski, SNSSNA Public Policy & Legislation Committee

Co-Chair Director, Child Nutrition Services

MSD of Wayne Township (Ind.)

Cathy SchuchartStaff Vice President of Government

Affairs & Media Relations


Doug Davis, SNS

SNA Public Policy & Legislation Committee Chair

Advocacy in 2018:Prepare to Charge the Hill

February 1, 2018

Sara Gasiorowski, SNS

SNA Public Policy & Legislation Committee Co-Chair


The Source (you)

• Survey open to SNA members November 1-15

• Distributed through direct email and various SNA newsletters


Drafting & Release

• Drafted December 4th, 2017

• Based on 3,500 + responses to the Position Paper Survey

• Released January 11, 2018



Anatomy of the Paper


Block Grants

Oppose any effort to block grant school meal

programs.

• Block grants will dismantle an effective and

crucial federal program, putting students at risk

by cutting funds and abolishing federal

standards for school meals.


School Meal Funding TODAY

• “Entitlement” funding means schools are reimbursed for every meal served

• Federal funds grow with demand for school meals

• When natural disasters, local recessions, rising enrollment increase # of meals served, schools receive more $$ to cover costs


Funding under Block Grants

• No more entitlement!

• House proposed Block Grant would eliminate:

– 6 cent lunch reimbursement

– All paid meal reimbursements

– Annual inflationary increases

• If more kids need healthy meals, schools receive NO extra funds to cover costs

Increasing school meal participation becomes a liability


http://bit.ly/2z05GDQ

http://bit.ly/2z05GDQ


Block Grants Costs

• With these losses:

– Hungry kids could go without

– School Districts forced to absorb costs

– Meal quality could suffer

• Federal nutrition standards, eligibility rules abolished

• The Federal School Meal Program will end as we know it!


Breakfast Commodities

Support H.R. 3738, the Healthy Breakfasts Help Kids

Learn Act, to provide 6 cents in USDA Foods

(commodities) for every school breakfast served.

• Currently, commodity support is only provided for school

lunch.

• Expanding USDA Foods to support the School Breakfast

Program will allow more students to benefit from a

nutritious school breakfast, help schools cover rising costs

and advance USDA’s mission of supporting America’s

farmers.


Program Simplification

Continue to monitor and support USDA’s work to simplify

overly burdensome child nutrition mandates to improve

efficiencies and reduce costs.


Program Simplification (cont.)

• Maintain the Target 1 sodium levels and eliminate future targets.

• Restore the initial requirement that at least half of grains offered with school meals be whole grain rich.


Presenting the Paper


Meeting with Congressional Staffers


Order of Presentation


Key Committees

U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee

U.S. House Agriculture Committee

U.S. Senate Agriculture and Nutrition & Forestry

Committee


A Unified Voice

“The lunch ladies are powerful. If we could

have them screaming in the halls of

Congress that would be great!” –

Congressional Staffer


<Space Needed for Closed Captioning>

<Space Needed for Closed Captioning><Space Needed for Closed Captioning>

Community Eligibility Series, Part 2

Making It Work With ISPs Below 60%2pm ET on Wednesday, Mar 14th

MARCH

Best of #SNIC18:

Simple Tech Tools from Your Nerdy Best Friend 2pm ET on Wednesday, Feb. 21st

FEBRUARY

REGISTRATION OPENING SOON!Making Plant-Based Eating Doable and Desirable in K-12

2pm ET on Wednesday, Mar 28th

MARCH



http://schoolnutrition.org/on-demand/

Never miss an SNA webinar again!

Every Webinar Wednesday is recorded and

posted to On-Demand library within 1-2 days.

The SNA On-Demand library

• Over 60 webinars

• All Key Areas

• Meet professional standards training requirements

http://schoolnutrition.org/Webinar/on-demand/


For More Information:

http://schoolnutrition.org/ethics

SNA’s NEW Online Ethics

Module is NOW

Available!


Doug

Documents

Advocacy in 2018: Prepare to Charge the Hill