NSBA Urges Bipartisan Action to Repeal One Big Beautiful Bill Reductions Affecting More Than 22 Million Families
On May 11, the National School Boards Association (NSBA) today sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) urging the Senate to use consideration of the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 (H.R. 7567) — the Farm Bill — to repeal harmful cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) enacted under the One Big Beautiful Bill.
The SNAP reductions, which total nearly $186 billion over 10 years, will affect more than 22 million families and have direct consequences for public schools. When SNAP participation declines, fewer students qualify for automatic, or “direct,” certification for free school meals — increasing administrative burdens for families and districts, reducing meal access for eligible children, and jeopardizing school participation in the Community Eligibility Provision. District leaders are already preparing for these impacts to materialize in the 2026–27 school year.
“Children cannot learn when they are hungry, and school board members across this country are sounding the alarm,” said Verjeana McCotter-Jacobs, NSBA Executive Director and CEO. “The SNAP cuts enacted in the One Big Beautiful Bill will ripple through our classrooms for years — reducing food security, straining school budgets, and making it harder for schools to connect kids with the meals they need and deserve. We are calling on the Senate to seize this moment and use the Farm Bill to reverse these cuts. Our students cannot wait.”
In addition to reversing the SNAP reductions, NSBA's letter calls on the Senate to advance a broader set of student nutrition priorities, including reauthorizing the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act with commonsense flexibility and adequate funding, passing and funding the Universal School Meals Program Act, and updating free and reduced-price lunch eligibility thresholds to reflect local cost-of-living realities.
NSBA also commended the bipartisan coalition in the House for including an extension of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act in the Farm Bill reauthorization framework — a critical resource for rural schools and communities — and urged that same bipartisan commitment be applied to protecting children's nutrition.
Click here to read the full text of NSBA's letter to Senate leadership.