Legislation – ILSNA Legislative Position Paper

Legislative Policy Issues 2011-2012

The School Nutrition Association (SNA) is a national, nonprofit professional organization representing more than 55,000 members who provide high-quality, low-cost meals to students across the United States. The Illinois Chapter, ILSNA, impacts approximately 2 million students throughout the State of Illinois, from Chicago to Cairo, Quincy to Danville.

Members of the Illinois School Nutrition Association are committed to the improvement of community-directed quality child nutrition programs. ILSNA recognizes the importance of striving for a healthy school environment that equips students with the nutrition they need to achieve academic success.

• Adequately support the financial need of Child Nutrition Programs. ILSNA believes that adequate financial support of child nutrition programs is essential. Reimbursement rates have not kept up with the food and labor costs.

  • In 2010, Illinois had 4,495 schools participating in the National School Lunch Program serving 194 million lunches.
  • There are 3,341 schools participating in the School Breakfast Program, serving nearly 58 million breakfasts annually.
  • Illinois reimbursement rate is currently 10¢ per free lunch or breakfast. Illinois does not grant any reimbursement to offset costs for paid or reduced cost meals.
  • Financial support is needed to provide healthy food choices such as whole grains, fresh fruits and fresh vegetables.

• Support Healthy School Environment Initiatives. Agencies working for the health and well-being of children must collectively address the policy and funding barriers that schools face in creating a healthy school environment. Any comprehensive plan must be developed with the input from ILSNA as well as all interested agencies. ILSNA encourages policy makers to make children's health a priority.

  • Support the “Consistent National Nutrition Standards” by endorsing the School Nutrition Association's position on national nutrition standards.
  • Support and enhance local wellness policies by linking comprehensive, sequential nutrition education, quality child nutrition programs and school environments that model healthy behaviors in food choices and physical activity.
  • Require that all food made available to students in the school environment meet the same criteria as set forth by the Secretary of Agriculture for the National School Lunch Program.
  • Institute adequate mealtime for children by ensuring at least 20 minutes for children to eat lunch.