“School breakfast continues to make significant gains in communities across the United States,” says the antihunger Food Research and Action Center, summarizing two new reports that it issued. FRAC says 53 percent of children who qualified for free or reduced-price school lunch also participated in school breakfast, up 1 percentage point from 2013 and 10 points higher than a decade ago. “Progress is being made, but still nearly half of low-income students in the U.S. are missing out on school breakfast and its well-established benefits for health and education,” the group noted.
In response, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said, “It’s very encouraging to see more and more students participating in the school breakfast program. School meals now provide many of our nation’s public school students with over half of the food they eat every day, so it is especially important that these meals provide kids the nutrition they need to learn and grow.”
On average, 13.2 million children ate school breakfast daily during the 2013/14 school year. FRAC said participation grows in schools that offer breakfast in the classroom or from “grab and go” carts, or that use other creative ways to reach hungry students. The Community Eligibility Provision, which allows free meals for all students in high-poverty areas, also has boosted participation.
West Virginia, New Mexico, and the District of Columbia had the highest ratio (70 percent or more) of low-income children eating school breakfast, said FRAC, while Nebraska, New Hampshire and Utah had the lowest rates (below 40 percent).