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School Breakfast Served 7.5 Million Low-Income Children in 2005, After Biggest Annual Jump (5.3 Percent)
Since 1995

FRAC Estimates Lagging States Could Serve at Least
1.9 Million More Low-Income Children and
Leverage $382 Million in Additional Federal Funds

WASHINGTON, DC – Participation in the nation's School Breakfast Program rose by more than 378,000 low-income children in the 2004-2005 school year, the largest increase since the 1994-1995 school year, according to the annual School Breakfast Scorecard released today by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC).

A record 7.5 million children received free or reduced price breakfast each day, a 5.3 percent increase in the number of low-income children eating breakfast at school compared to the prior year. Since 1990, the number of low-income students receiving free or reduced price breakfasts has more than doubled.

The total number of children participating, including more affluent children who paid for their own breakfasts, was also a record number -- 9.2 million.

"The acceleration of growth in participation is good news," said FRAC President James Weill. "When kids eat school breakfast, they are better off, their families are better off, their teachers are better off, and their schools are better off. There’s less hunger and better student achievement and health."

In order to assure that the most children are eating school breakfast, the first critical step is to get more schools to offer breakfast. In 2004-2005, more than 4 in 5 (81.1 percent) of the schools that offered school lunch also participated in school breakfast, another record.

Despite these gains, the program still reaches only 2 in 5 eligible children -- 44 low-income children for every 100 who eat school lunch.

FRAC reported that almost 9.6 million low-income students who participate in school lunch go without school breakfast. Weill said, "No child should have to start the school day hungry to learn, but unable to do so because of a hungry stomach. The states and schools that are leaving millions of hungry children behind need to act now. And this is the perfect time, since Congress has told them to address student wellness problems this year."

School Breakfast Program performance among the states varied widely. FRAC identified thirteen states ( Oregon, West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, New Mexico, Vermont, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, and North Carolina) that had the best results in 2004-2005 in reaching low-income youngsters with school breakfasts – each with more than 50 students in free or reduced price breakfasts for every 100 in free or reduced price lunches.

If all states and the District of Columbia performed at the top level achieved by the three highest performing states (a ratio of 55 out of 100 low-income students), FRAC estimates that the program would feed 1.9 million additional low-income children and provide a total of $382 million each year in additional federal funds to schools across the nation. California, New York, Illinois, Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio were the states losing the most federal funds, between them foregoing more than $1.99 million.

Six states ( Connecticut, New Hampshire, Alaska, Utah, Illinois and Wisconsin) served breakfast to fewer than one in three of the low-income children eating school lunch.

Making sure schools participate, conducting outreach, and connecting breakfast to local wellness policies are among strategies that can help increase breakfast participation, according to FRAC Senior Policy Analyst Randy Rosso, the principal author of the FRAC Scorecard. Those states with the lowest proportion of their schools in the program generally have the fewest children in the program.

State laws pushing schools to participate can make a difference. In New Jersey, school breakfast participation jumped by 39.1 percent, thanks to a new state law mandating school breakfast in elementary schools where at least 20 percent of the students are eligible for free or reduced price lunches. The impact in future years is expected to be even greater, as the mandate began to apply to secondary schools as well in September 2005.

Local school wellness policies are being developed in school districts across the nation in response to a new law requiring their implementation in the 2006-2007 school year. “The purpose of local wellness policies is to improve children’s nutrition and prevent childhood obesity,” said Lynn Parker, FRAC’s Director of Child Nutrition Programs and Nutrition Policy. “Because the School Breakfast Program contributes to the achievement of these nutrition and health goals, making school breakfasts available to all students and promoting their participation in the program are vital ingredients for all local wellness policies.” According to FRAC, at least 15 states already are planning or undertaking activities to promote school breakfast expansion as part of school wellness policy implementation.

School Breakfast Program funding is available on an entitlement basis to eligible public and private non-profit schools and residential child care institutions. The federal government reimburses schools for all or part of the cost of every meal, depending on the incomes of participating children's families.

2005 School Breakfast Scorecard

Executive Summary

Table 1:	Low-Income Student Participation in School Lunch (NSLP) and School Breakfast (SBP)
Table 2:	School Participation in School Lunch (NSLP) and School Breakfast (SBP)
Table 3:	Total Student Participation in School Breakfast Program (SBP)
Table 4:	Additional Participation and Funding in Each State if 55 Low-Income Students Were Served School Breakfast (SBP) per 100 Served School Lunch NSLP)

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The Food Research and Action Center (www.frac.org) is the leading national organization working for more effective public and private policies to eradicate domestic hunger and undernutrition.