School Breakfast Program: Students’ Way to Start the Day Off Right
Photo Credit © Foodie Factor on Pexels.Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. A healthy morning meal provides the energy and nutrients you need to jumpstart your morning and stay focused. This is particularly true in the case of growing children. Studies show that children who regularly consume a healthy breakfast have better moods, higher cognitive functioning, stronger bones, better test scores and a faster metabolism [FN1].
In short: kids who eat breakfast are better prepared for anything the school day throws at them. So, what about the kids whose parents can’t provide breakfast? How are they supposed to get the nutrition they need to fill their stomachs, fuel their brains and excel in school?
The School Breakfast Program (SBP) works to fill this need.
What is the School Breakfast Program?
The School Breakfast Program began as a pilot program in 1966, following the success of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). It was initially targeted at children living in poor areas, or who had to travel long distances to school. However, the program soon expanded to include other “nutritionally needy” students. Eventually, in 1975, Congress made the SBP permanent and authorized it for any school where serving breakfast would increase attendance [FN2].
Over the last half century, the program has continued to grow and SBP now serves more than 12.4 million children each day, 11.6 million of which receive free school breakfast [FN3, FN4].
Similar to the National School Lunch Program , meals served as part of the SBP must meet certain nutritional standards. For example, breakfasts are specifically required to include fruit as a separate meal component [FN5]. However, it’s left up to the individual schools and daycare centers to choose exactly which foods they serve each morning.
The Stigma of Free Breakfasts
Schools and childcare centers consistently report lower participation, and less growth, in the SBP than they do in the NSLP. While 93.6% of schools that serve lunch under the NSLP also offer a breakfast option, only about half (57.5%) of students that participate in school lunch take advantage of the morning meals [FN6].
Many believe this is due to a stigma associated with free breakfast. Schools do their best to avoid identifying students as lower income, but in many programs, the stigma remains. While students do not know who receives a free or reduce price lunch, they will certainly notice their peers who receive breakfast at school [FN7]. Given that most students who don’t need meal assistance eat before arriving at school, standing in line for breakfast at the school cafeteria can feel like a status billboard: an announcement to a child’s peers that their family cannot afford at-home breakfast.
Strategies to Increase Participation in School Breakfast
Here are two common strategies that schools have implemented to reduce that stigma and get more students the morning meal they need:
1. Breakfast in the Classroom
Some programs are boosting participation by offering breakfast in the classroom. Students and parents are notified that the first 15-or-so minutes of class each day are breakfast time. The hope is that students who don’t qualify for free breakfast will also bring breakfast to eat or purchase breakfast in the cafeteria, making participants in the SBP less conspicuous and more willing to eat [FN8]. The teacher uses this time to take attendance or pass out papers while the students eat.
2. Grab ’N’ Go
Many students, especially in lower-income neighborhoods, take a school bus to school. As a result, they don’t usually arrive early enough to wait for breakfast in the cafeteria. Rather than be penalized for tardiness, students often choose to skip breakfast.
In response, many cafeterias now offer Grab ’N’ Go breakfast options [FN8]. Some schools have even placed carts by the bus drop-off areas so students can grab breakfast on their way into the building. These pre-packed meals are also easy to finish quickly, which allows children to eat before arriving in class and further helps reduce the stigma of a free breakfast.
Who is Eligible?
Any public school, residential childcare facility or non-profit private school can participate and be reimbursed for the costs of school breakfasts. Like with the National School Lunch Program, the amount of money a school receives in federal reimbursement depends on the number of low-income families in the area. To that end, “schools with high rates of free or reduced-price eligible students have the option of offering universal breakfast and providing meals to all students at no charge” [FN8].
The following students are automatically eligible for free meals through the SBP [FN9]:
· Children from households whose income falls at or below 130% of the federal poverty line
· Children whose parents qualify for other federal nutrition assistance programs, such as SNAP
· Children from households eligible for unemployment.
· Children in foster care, plus those who are considered homeless, runaway, or migrant
Students who come from households with an income between 130-185% of the federal poverty line are eligible for reduced-price meals.
To find out more about the nutrition resources available to you and your loved ones, call or text the National Hunger Hotline. You can call 1-866-HUNGER (1-866-3-HUNGRY) or 1-877-8-HAMBRE (1-877-842-6273) any time between 7am and 10pm Eastern, or text a question to 97779 at any time [FN10].
Resources
2. https://www.fns.usda.gov/sbp/program-history
3. https://www.fns.usda.gov/sbp/school-breakfast-program
4. https://frac.org/programs/school-breakfast-program
5. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2012-01-26/pdf/2012-1010.pdf
6. https://frac.org/programs/school-breakfast-program
8. https://www.ncsl.org/research/human-services/a-guide-to-the-school-breakfast-program.aspx
9. https://www.benefits.gov/benefit/366
10. https://www.fns.usda.gov/partnerships/national-hunger-clearinghouse