QUARTERLY UPDATES
legislative UPDATE
BY BEN DRISCOLL, REGIONAL SALES/ SERVICE MANAGER, SMART SYSTEMS, ISNA LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE CHAIR, and SHENAE ROWE, FOOD & NUTRITION DIRECTOR, WARRICK COUNTY SCHOOL CORPORATION
The camaraderie and care that is taken as attendees plan to Charge the Hill calls for “all hands in!”
2022 Legislative Action Conference Update
SNA’s 50th annual Legislative Action Conference took place March 6-8th. This conference brought together nearly 700 school nutrition professionals, industry partners, and other supporters to Washington D.C. to advocate for school nutrition programs. The first day of LAC started off a little differently than expected. Shortly before the conference began, SNA was notified that the amendment that included critical funding for the expected school nutrition waiver extensions for 2022- 2023 was dropped from the omnibus budget bill that was currently in motion. These waivers included
Absolutely. But having 700 passionate school nutrition professionals fighting for the 30 million students we serve each day couldn’t have been more powerful. In less than 24 hours, we went from having 14,000 letters sent to Congress urging them to extend the waivers to over 133,000 letters! We made certain that our voices were heard. After two days of meetings and gathering our thoughts, we set off to Capitol Hill to meet with every senator and representative across the country to see if someone would step up and
with each other, we must take the initiative and schedule regular meetings with both state and federal legislators so we can continue to educate them on the important role our school nutrition programs play in our communities across the country. We need to develop personal relationships with our legislators, invite them to see our amazing programs firsthand, and feel comfortable requesting their help when needed. Remember, they are there to work for us, to hear our stories, and to make America a better place for everyone. If we don’t tell our story, who will? So you may be wondering, is there any good news? Yes, we do still have some options to get these critical waivers extended for the 2022-2023 school year. The national SNA team is working around the clock to find the best route possible to make this happen. Our ISNA Legislative Action Committee will be reaching out to our Indiana Legislators to inquire about any funding that may be available to offset possible deficit losses we may experience if we are not able to get the federal waivers, including the increased reimbursement rates, extended at the national level. We have our work cut out for us, but let’s never forget that we are a strong and powerful group and if anyone can get this done for our students and families, it is us!! So please be on the lookout for more information regarding what you can do to help now and how you can get more involved in the future.
The conference’s second general session included a USDA 2022 Update & Message from USDA Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack
push to get these waiver extensions added back into the omnibus bill. It was remarkably noticeable that our congressional members do not know enough about our National School Nutrition Programs. They are unaware of how our programs are funded, the depth of our current challenges and concerns during these
equal access to healthy meals for all students at no charge, non-congregate and area-eligibility feeding, allowing us to provide grab n’ go meals throughout our districts regardless of income eligibility, and the much needed higher reimbursements rates we have been receiving over the last two years necessary to keep
...having 700 passionate school nutrition professionals fighting for the 30 million students we serve each day couldn’t have been more powerful .
Alison Powers of JTM Food Group, Courtney FitzSimons, ISNA Vice President, and Ben Driscoll, ISNA Legislative Committee Chair very excited to be meeting with Congress members!
our programs afloat. At this time, because the amendment was dropped, we will operate as we did pre-pandemic for the 2022-2023 school year, although we are still feeling the pandemic effects of inflation, supply chain issues, and staffing shortages, which will be here to stay for much longer than anyone wants. Needless to say, this brought quite a somber feeling amongst all of the attendees. SNA immediately had to shift gears and focus on how we could educate our legislators that we needed these waivers to be extended and time was of the essence. The timing of this moment couldn’t have been more critical. Would we have preferred to know this information weeks or months prior to the day the bill was already being introduced so we could build our case with our legislators on Capitol Hill?
post-pandemic times, and how the decision not to extend the waivers will drastically impact our school nutrition programs, the students, and all of the working families that rely on the services we provide for years to come. We know that we gave it our all and did as much as we could to get these important waivers extended, but a friend and colleague of mine summed it up best, “We came, we saw, but we did not conquer.” Although leaving LAC didn’t come with the feeling of accomplishment like we have had in the past, it has made us realize that we need to be more vocal. Typically, we reach out to our federal congressional members annually, but why don’t we do this more often? With virtual meetings now being a main source of communicating
Ben Driscoll (2nd from left), ISNA Legislative Committee Chair, and Leeanne Koeneman, Immediate Past President of ISNA, with LAC 1st Timers Sam Stables of HRI, Inc. and Courtney FitzSimons (2nd from right), ISNA Vice President, as they await their meeting with Congressman James Baird’s office.
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