Margarine for error

MADISON, Wis. — Deciding if a student will bring their own lunch or eat at school depends on what is found on the menu. In Dodgeville, the Dolan family saw margarine on the menu and began a movement that has gone from an email all the way to the state capitol.

On Jan. 27, Krista Dolan took the stand, testifying about Senate Bill 645. This bill, also known as the Butter in Our Schools Act, requires public, private and tribal schools to serve real butter instead of margarine to students, except for those with dietary restrictions.

“Sen. (Howard) Marklein and Rep. (Todd) Novak testified first,” Dolan said. “Then I was called up to read my testimony. When I was done, there were no questions at all.”

Dolan and her husband, Ryan, milk 260 cows near Dodgeville.

The Butter in Our Schools Act gained favor early, passing the assembly unanimously earlier in January. If the bill passes in the Senate, it moves to the governor’s desk and is one step closer to becoming law.

Dolan started the movement in September 2025 after she noticed margarine was listed as a condiment in lunches provided for her son and his fellow students.

“I asked my son if they were really serving margarine or if they served butter,” Dolan said. “My kids know the difference because they’re farm kids.”

One day, her son brought home the label.

“Much to my suspicion, it was indeed margarine,” Dolan said. “I definitely wasn’t pleased and that’s when I reached out to the school board and an administrator, wanting an explanation because butter was offered last year. I wanted to know the reasoning behind it. Being a dairy farmer, I was very curious why they were serving this to students because the ingredients aren’t great.”

After a pair of follow-up emails, Dolan was informed that the nutrition staff made the decision to use margarine for its cost efficiency and to meet saturated fat thresholds for school menus.

“Being a dairy farmer in the dairy state, I have a huge problem with this,” Dolan said. “Yes, there’s soybean oil in it (margarine), and we support those farmers, but there are also ingredients that are similar to what is found in paint and plastic; they aren’t real ingredients.”

Dolan mentioned what was happening to a few farming friends and soon realized that under Wisconsin Statute 97.18, the serving of oleomargarine or margarine to students, patients or inmates of any state institution as a substitute for table butter is prohibited, with exceptions made when requested or by dietary restrictions.

What that statute left unclear is that schools do not qualify under this because they are run locally.

“After I Googled it, I reached out to Rep. Novak,” Dolan said. “That’s when I had the big issue, because inmates in prison are eating better than kids in school, and that’s not OK.”

At the annual Iowa County Farm Bureau meeting in September, Dolan brought up the margarine issue. With Sen. Marklein and Rep. Novak in attendance, in addition to a room filled with farmers, the idea took off like wildfire.

“The room was fired up,” Dolan said. “The elected officials said they wanted us to put it into our policy book, but they would start to create a bill for this.”

Dolan and Novak have teamed up before to further agriculture awareness in Iowa County. Novak, the former mayor of Dodgeville, worked with Dolan as part of the Farmers’ Appreciation Day, where Dolan helped as a chairperson.

“It definitely helps to make those connections with your elected officials, because when that happens and there’s an issue like this, things can move through,” she said.

Having those relationships, along with government officials who have a background in agriculture, has helped the bill take off. Sen. Marklein and Rep. Novak are members of the Iowa County Farm Bureau and attend meetings often.

“It helped us out that our elected officials also thought it was important,” Dolan said. “They listened and they knew it was something that we were concerned about and moved it forward.”

This led to Dolan taking the stand at the capitol, which was a new experience for the dairy farmer.

“I was nervous about testifying, but it was actually really easy,” Dolan said. “I worked closely with Tim (Fiocci) and Jason (Mugnaini) from the government relations team for Wisconsin Farm Bureau and they’ve been fabulous behind this.”

When she was first approached about testifying in front of the Senate committee, Dolan was apprehensive.

“I hadn’t done something like that before, but Tim and Jason said they would help me,” Dolan said. “They helped me write my testimony, walked me through where I needed to be and were very supportive.”

With help from Fiocci, Mugnaini, the team at Farm Bureau and representatives who listened to their constituents, the butter bill continues to gain traction.

“It’s been a little controversial, because people say that we’re just there to talk about butter,” Dolan said. “What they don’t realize is that prisoners were eating better than kids in schools. I understand the schools were trying to save money where they could, but common sense tells you that you don’t serve margarine. I’m not sure why schools were left off of the original bill. It should have just been done all together.”