Purpose: To identify operational issues and practices associated with operating school nutrition (SN) programs in school districts with less than 30,000 student enrollment. Method: The survey was adapted from a similar study that explored operational issues in school districts with enrollments of 30,000 or more students. The survey asked SN directors to indicate their agreement with 52 operational issues and practices related to SN operations in large school districts and provide information about themselves and their SN operations. Surveys were mailed to a random sample of 700 SN directors in school districts with student enrollments of less than 30,000, stratified by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) region. Data analysis included means, standard deviations, and frequencies of total responses. Results: Two hundred fifty-seven (37%) SN directors completed surveys. Prior to taking their current position, 22.5% of directors had worked on SN management teams and 18.7% worked as SN directors in other school districts. Twenty seven of 52 operational issues and practice statements were rated as a mean of 3.0 or greater, (on a scale from 1-4) by SN directors, suggesting that SN directors agreed that these operational issues and practices were relevant. Operational issues with the highest mean ratings were: "I operate the SN department as a business within the school setting" (3.8 + 0.6) and "I serve as the SN representative with district administration" (3.8 +0.7). Greater than 80% of SN directors indicated that five of the operational issues and practices were performed/encountered very often. Application to Child Nutrition Professionals: The findings of this study demonstrate that SN directors are business-minded career professionals operating the business of SN within the school setting. It appears that SN directors regardless of district size are facing similar operational issues. However, SN directors in school districts with less than 2,799 in student enrollment may be encountering unique operational issues and practices compared to SN directors in school districts of larger enrollment size. (Contains 4 tables.)