like, there is no such thing. it's because they get free formula when they leave the hospital. they get formula, coupons and free formula at their doorstep. this has to stop. we are spinning our wheels took our mothers are suffering and our babies are getting fatter and none of us wanted. i know my time is up, so i will not keep it beautiful quote that i had at the end that i had two more in my written test with. thank you for indulging me. i really appreciate your attention. >> thank you very much. . . academic

achievement and healthy development of students and the affected operation of schools. services are provided within through nsb's member state associations school boards in partnership with other national organizations such as the national association of state boards of education, the alliance for healthier generation and action for healthy kids. nab is wants to prevent obesity through web based services educational programming and publications. a summary of our efforts is provided as an appendix to our statement. without question, local school districts believe that child nutrition is vitally important

to fostering a healthy and positive environment for children to achieve their full potential. healthy students learn better. children eat nutritious foods are healthier, perform better in school and learn behaviors that will keep them healthier throughout their life sometimes. -- life times. school boards are importance in the ensuring children have access to healthy and nutritious food and many have already taken steps at the local and state level to improve nutrition and healthy eating. one such example is the state of delaware where a public/private partnership of education and health stakeholders including the delaware school boards association established the he'd just a bit p. vincent healthy school awards to recognize the work of public schools championing children's health including nutrition. nsba's health programs department maintains many examples of school district efforts to improve student health and nutrition on its promising district practices database.

healthy nutrition success stories include a district in kentucky that increased breakfast participation rates to 95%. a district in new jersey that holds monthly coordinated health team meetings with an increase fruits and vegetables and coordinating services and the pta there's a pennsylvania district that created a new wellness culture to promote health and there's a new arkansas district that implemented a water-only sale for the district vending machines. there are many other examples of local initiatives. because the commitment to student access is unique. what is unique are the circumstances of each school district. what is successful at one won't necessarily work at another. the geography, economy, demographics and resources available in the community vary for each district. the challenges, opportunities and responses to local circumstances will also vary.

local decision-makers and stakeholders are in the best position to understand and meet the needs of each district including child nutrition with the federal government playing an important supportive role. therefore, i have the following recommendations for strengthening nutrition programs in the child reauthorization. recognized local school district authority and the variance among local circumstances and laws or policy addressing child nutrition. next, refrain from imposing additional regulations or mandates on schools outside of the federally subsidized school lunch and breakfast programs. and adequately reimburse school districts for the cost of these services. in addition, support school districts, local communities and states that are assuming greater responsibility for health and nutrition through incentives and grants that enable them to further expand their local commitment. and finally, ensure that adequate resources are available for school nutrition programs, for the meals and administration, the equipment

and facility improvements training for staff, education and other stakeholders for nutrition education and support of local initiatives. these recommendations are based on nsba's resolutions which are determined by a national 150-member delegate assembly members of which are selected by their states to collectively establish policy representing the perspectives of 95,000 local school board members. the process is annual and ongoing and the policy development begins in local communities, in the states and couple nates at nsba's annual convention each spring. in conclusion, reauthorization of the child nutrition act is an opportunity to celebrate the progress made since the 2004 reauthorization and to envision an even healthier future for our children. improving the quality of and expanding access to school meals is important to our children and our nation. school districts are vital partners in the effort to ensure

a healthy environment for children to achieve their full potential. the child nutrition act reauthorization is an opportunity to acknowledge and support this local leadership and authority. thank you again for the opportunity to comment. nsba looks afford to a communication and collaboration about this critical issue. thank you. >> thank you all of you for your testimony. miss mormorison, i need a more expansive explanation what happened -- why do these agencies in los angeles decide they could no longer participate? >> the program was being sponsored by an organization a multiservice organization. the administrative compensation for the program did not -- it was not financially viable for the organization to continue supporting that program.

there's not enough money for the administrative reimbursement to support the program. and to be able to accomplish the requirements. >> and that's separate from the food package? >> that is separate from the food meals, yes. >> so was your understanding that it was -- it was a question of cost of administration? >> that's true. it's the cost of administration of the program. that is causing sponsors to discontinue sponsoring the program. >> and you would attribute that to what? i mean, why has that changed all of a sudden? >> well, one of the things that happened in the last year is the -- the reimbursement for administration was reduced because of the tie to the consumer price index, which went down. that caused the reimbursement rate for certain level of homes to go down. also the administrative burdens of paperwork and the additional

block claiming that has become a requirement caused programs to close. because there's -- it requires more visits. and it can't be accomplished without increasing the reimbursement for the administration. >> all right. thank you for that. miss rivas, you make two recommendations with respect to the dietary guidelines. and one is that it's no longer sufficient to simply try and meet the goals or that it's sufficiently you're attempting to meet the goals of the dietary guidelines. you think the dietary guidelines in and of themselves have to be met. is that a fair statement? >> well, currently, we have national guidelines that follow the dietary goals. recently usda contracted with the institute of medicine to further look into the dietary

guidelines in order to look at the overall problem of reducing childhood obesity. and so currently what we want to be able to do is increase our reimbursement and so that we can go ahead and meet those guidelines. but we need the secretary of agriculture to be given the authority to be able to define those guidelines so we can consistently apply some specific guidelines -- >> how they apply to the school nutrition programs? >> pardon? >> you need the secretary on the authority -- >> how we apply -- >> how it will be compliant? >> how the guidelines for the institute of medicine new recommendations are going to be applied consistently throughout the country. >> okay. and you've landed that on the secretary of -- and you think that's the case? >> we currently -- we currently

have meal patterns. but we have new recommendations from the institute of medicine that have been offered through the institute of medicine. and we're needing some additional guidance to be able to implement those guidelines nationally so that they are consistent. >> all right. >> currently many states and local districts are making changes to their local standards. and that increases cost because there's different versions that are being applied nationally. being able to apply them consistently and have the secretary of agriculture define what those guidelines are will make our programs more consistent. and reduce the overall cost of our programs. >> thank you. i'm delighted when i read in

your testimony that, you know, you've joined up with first lady mr. obama in this campaign for healthy eating. and healthy meals. and trying to -- trying to use -- as she explained it to us, trying to use these programs as teachable moments. as part of the classroom as she would say. whether it's the school garden or the lunch or breakfast program. and i was discussing diabetes with some people yesterday. and when you -- when you think that 23 million children and adults in the united states have diabetes but the number of children under the age of 20 it's 186,000 individuals. and so it would seem to me that as we talk about obesity and diabetes and diet, that there's a moment here to really do an education. that if you have this explosion of diabetes in the adult population, some kind of work

with the children, while you have these moments around the school nutrition programs could conceivably, if well structured and properly delivered could conceivably have a lifetime of benefits. for those -- for those individuals. and i don't know how you're thinking about this. >> absolutely. we see -- the school nutrition association sees this as a wonderful opportunity to utilize the school cafeterias as a learning laboratory for healthy eating so that we can improve the eating habits of our children. we support coordinated school programs to be able to promote the school lunch program. we have healthy meals that provide, you know, healthy entrees. more fresh fruits and vegetables. more whole grains. and they model what a healthy meal is.

and if our students participate in their program, they're able to take that message home. in partnership with the total school community, i think that we can work toward having healthier students. and then reducing all the chronic illnesses that result from unhealthy eating. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and again thanks to the witnesses for your testimony. and for being here today. i did -- i was struck that it seems every one of you -- you do have something in common out there. that every program does need more money. we've heard calls for adequate resources, enhanced meal reimbursements. covering the cost of transportation and delivery and so forth. so i do -- we have got that message. we don't actually have the money. but we do have the message. that there's more money required.

we have some difference of opinion, it seems to me here, about the role of the federal government, how much it's going to be. how much it's going to be dictated by the secretary of agriculture. i think ms. rivas was your position. there ought to be greater input at that level. and i think ms. gettman, you were emphasizing representing the national school board's association. that there ought to be more local control. and that the federal government ought to be careful about how it intrudes in that. it does seem to me that child nutrition initiatives at the school -- or school district, local level, allow for more input and support from parents. which i think we all would agree is very helpful. the more parents are involved in education in general, the better we are. and not just on nutrition. could you address that.

that involving parents and how that would relate to how much the federal government dictates in those process, ms. gettman, to you. >> thank you. mr. chairman, members of the committee, parents are absolutely -- play an absolutely critical role in the success of all of our collective efforts. and to maximize and capture the collaborative potential between local school districts, families and communities is absolutely paramount. one thing to keep in mind is that local school board members are either appointed by or elected by and from their communities. many of them are parents. many of them are educators or providers or business leaders in the community. and they're the perfect leverage point to optimize the

collaborative potential with communities. another dimension that we reflect on with regard to the role of parents is that the teachable moments that were -- that was -- that were brought up earlier in this hearing. it can be maximized at the local school district level. either through professional development with in-school staff or through pta. basically, the local school districts as hubs of their communities. local school district initiatives can absolutely magnify parent education, parent engagement, parent involvement. ultimately resulting in improved child nutrition. >> thank you. i know that -- one thing about the local school board is that you can reach out and touch it. i think my daughter has been involved in such a battle here lately as a mother of two children in the public schools.

i just wanted a clarification here. i'm trying to think, ms. rivas, whether it was you or not -- but i'm going to turn to you because i think it falls into the realm that you were discussing. i want to talk just for a second or have you address the issue of the so-called competitive foods. you know, where you have so often -- you have the athletic organizations of the school and organizations who have bake sales. and they cook the famous brownies and banana bread and that sort of thing. is it your position of your organization that this should fall into these same guidelines that the secretary would promulgate? >> that's correct. we support local policy and menu-planning. but with sound science. however, you know, our role as food service directors is to teach children, you know, good

basic nutrition. and they go through the cafeteria line. we try to teach them what is a good balanced meal. and when we are talking about, you know, meals served outside of the classroom, very often they do not support that same message. and so we are urging congress to eliminate the time and place rule. because what we -- what messages we are trying to send in the cafeteria in promoting the recommended dietary guidelines and the institute of medicine recommendations -- they need to be consistent message throughout the whole campus. >> okay. you do want to regulate the bake sale? >> we want to have the secretary to determine what those guidelines should be.

so that we are consistent in the cafeteria and outside the cafeteria. because we are trying to do is have the students participate in the program. and when students are tempted to go outside of the cafeteria, they're not drinking their milk. which is a very -- you know, which is a real critical part of their growth and development. >> okay. my time has long since expired. so thank you. i think i've got the answer. we want to regulate the bake sale and that's what i was trying to get at. i do believe i understand your position now. so i'll yield back. i know there are others who have questions. >> thank you. congressman mccarthy? >> thank you. and i want to thank chairman miller for having this hearing today. this is something that the committee and the subcommittee has been working on for several years now. and i want to thank you for the panel for bringing the information to a wider audience.

i think that, you know, when we start looking at -- and obviously with mrs. obama speaking about this constantly, it's finally moved up the radar which a lot of you have already known for a long time that we need to change these things. we've worked here pretty hard -- on a hard way on issues that we're ready for ourselves on the child nutrition reauthorization. the benefits of breastfeeding are well recognized as we discussed today. and just thinking back, i spent over 30 years as a nurse and a lot of times i had to work on the ob/gyn floor and it's there that we need to make sure that our nurses and our doctors are trained into this and giving the benefits on what the child can go through by breastfeeding. that's why last year i worked hard to get the $5 million in the ag appropriations for breastfeeding performance bonuses, awards and why i

introduced legislation addressing this issue and how we can utilize volunteers such as those in the national service of americorps programs to assist with meeting the goals of child nutrition programs. especially for wic. i guess the question that i would ask is, what are the greatest hurdles that we're facing on breastfeeding success with the wic mothers? and beyond peer council funding, what additional resources would support wic in its efforts to promote breastfeeding? would additional human resources possibly through volunteers be helpful in the cause that you're looking at? >> thank you for your question. it kind of puts it back to where -- i mean, i hate for y'all to think i'm going to keep digging up that barking up the old tree. but the reality is we can put a lot of effort promoting breastfeeding and resources. but until we fix the institutions that don't make it happen right, it's just going to be more -- you know, throwing

more money at the program and hoping it goes away. the way i really -- i want to really acknowledge the peer counseling money is phenomenal. because that's what what helps. the peer-to-peer support, friends working with friends. friends that look like you and understand your situation. moms, when they go to deliver, though -- when they -- you know, the human-made issues that happen when they get confused by the messaging. when the baby is crying and doesn't take their breast, that becomes very difficult for them. sort of perhaps there is a place for some help that happens but at a community task force collaborative level where we could really bring, you know, a million people marching the streets saying hospitals, you need to change. everybody needs to sing the same tune. you know, the other programs that our promises access. for example, the snap program. when they go to apply for food stamps or the food program where they might be leaving their children. all these programs need to be in sync. that we have the same message.

that we're here to support exclusive breastfeeding or long-term breastfeeding as a vehicle to promote childhood obesity and all the fabulous things that come along with it. volunteers, there's definitely a place for volunteers. i would leave it to local programs to figure out how best they can use them. we can never have enough human resources. what we need is assistance change. perhaps these could be the detailed people. we know formula people have detailed people. they change the name of a formula. they get to the doctor's office and, boom, there's a new thing on the horizon. we don't have breastfeeding detail people. make the volunteers could be the breastfeeding detail that go out and do these, you know, lunch and learns for docs. i think there's a way to do this. we'll have to kind of think through this. locally, collaboratively, working together but we've got to get rid of the problems that have been created by the external environment so that our moms and babies don't suffer needlessly. and wic doesn't have to -- you

know, do fits to make this happen. >> one of the things -- and quickly because my time is almost up. we have a couple of programs working in my district in the underserved schools where we have brought child nutrition back in with an exercise program working together. one of the things that i didn't hear anybody talk about was the data that we have so far for three years that this program is in place is that the marks all went up. the children actually started getting higher grades across-the-board. and i think that we're overlooking that on nutrition, exercise. actually increases marks for the children. and let's face it, our young -- young women and boys at that age -- they need to move around a little bit more. and we have constrained them in so many ways. and i'm not saying, you know, a free for all. i don't believe in that. but i know two or three minutes of exercise in between classes

or whatever with subjects have helped them quite a bit. thank you for your testimony. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to -- since this is an education labor meeting i want to give you all an a. since you've been here you're the best panel of staying within five minutes. thank you for selecting these excellent witnesses today. and i'm going to start at birth 'cause that's what i did for a living was birth babies. and one of the things i totally agree with you -- i think several things i ran across -- we worked in a birthing center and one of the issues you run across for the mother is work. going back to work in breastfeeding. i think that's a huge issue. basically your education level and cultural issues. we really emphasize that in our practice. and we delivered about 1200 babies a year. and so we emphasized that. and had a very high percent that breast-fed. the problem with it is that many moms work now and it's difficult on the workplace unless it's an unusual work environment for them to be able to do it.

i pitch that out with no solutions. just a point that i think that's a problem. but absolutely. what you say is true. and also how we grow up. i think it's extremely important to start in the schools. and as congresswoman slaughter did, we started a program in our city, in johnson city, tennessee, called up and at them. we weighed all the children in elementary school and found 87% were overweighed. we started a program where we introduced exercise as you were talking about in the elementary school level. and hopefully that will be a lifestyle because growing up my mother didn't allow me to stay in the house. i mean, you had to be outside playing. you had to go out. we only ate when we ate. there weren't any restaurants. and i was very rural county. so it was -- there were no fast food restaurants where i lived. so we ate vegetables and fruits and that's how we grew up. and that's how i continue to eat today. so we are what we eat.

and i think that's a situation where that's got to begin at earth. one of the problems i have with the program, i guess, is when it's 268 we pay for a meal and it cost the schools $3.03 approximately that in our area to produce a meal. so they're in the hole already. i think you brought that point up, ms. rivas, and i'm certainly sensitive to that. the other thing where school cafeterias have, i guess, expense back to the lunch program where you're paying for a lot of things that don't have anything to do with food. the other thing we would recommend that we did in our local community which was very helpful in saving money is we did an energy audit for all our buildings. and we found out that one of the biggest energy consumers we had were the old ovens and stuff that you prepared the food with. and we were able to go in with a company that actually found enough energy savings to replace all of that, more modern

equipment at no cost. so i would look at those opportunities out there. the other thing i think ms. morrison that was interesting, we did this on the va committee where we budget now for two years. can purchase over a two-year period of time that makes good sense. if you can use best practices like that. and any comments that any of you have about what i've said, ms. marsh, yes, ms. saluja? >> if i could begin at the birth piece. i really appreciate that and i congratulate you on your practice. it's a very common misconception that people hold, well, yeah, you want to breast-feed but you're going back to work. the reality is that that -- there again, working women, women of color, low-incomed promises are disproportionately affected by that. and it is seen as a hindrance. it really isn't. again wic comes into play there. we have money for breast pumps. the wic -- and i speak personally from my own experience.

the last 10 years we have been putting pumps out in work sites. we have a legislation in 36 states, i believe, it's in my testimony, i may have the number wrong, that actually provide lactation accommodation at the work site. and in los angeles, i am so proud to tell you we have never had an employer turn us down. we are the advocates. the mother comes to us and says, wic, i'm ready to go back to work. there are certain conditions. she's exclusively breastfeeding. she's going back to work. we call the employer and we tell them about the california law, they open -- welcome them with open arms. we have a place -- we give the pump for free. they give it back to us when they're done. this working woman pump program in los angeles -- we've actually done a study on it. it gives us 120 extra days of exclusive breastfeeding just because the mother had the support and the location was provided for her at the work site. having said, i would really urge that we look to see that usda allows us to use contingency funds if needed to buy additional pumps.