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Maryland’s Ranking Drops to 29th in the US
in School Breakfast Participation

The Food Research and Action Center Estimates
that Maryland Schools Could Serve at least 31,728 More Eligible Children and Leverage $6.3 Million in Federal Funds

Washington, DC – Maryland continued to slip in its ranking among the states in participation by low-income children in the School Breakfast Program in the 2004-2005 school year, dropping to 29 th compared to its ranking of 17 th in 2002. Maryland has failed to keep up with the pace of increased breakfast participation achieved by other states, according to the annual School Breakfast Scorecardreleased today by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC). The state’s ranking has dropped each year since 2002.

While there was a small overall increase in school meals participation in the 2004-2005 school year in Maryland, when 91,600 children received free or reduced price breakfast on a typical day, only 41 low-income children ate breakfast for every 100 who ate school lunch, lagging behind the national average of 44 per 100. Maryland’s ratio was 45 per100 in 2002.

The 2005 FRAC report estimates that more than 132,000 low-income Maryland children who participate in school lunch go without school breakfast. FRAC President James 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 schools that are leaving behind tens of thousands of hungry children need to act now. And this is the perfect time, since Congress has told school districts to address student wellness problems this year."

Local school wellness policies are being developed in school districts across Maryland in response to a new federal 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.”

FRAC estimated that if Maryland provided access to school breakfast at the level achieved by the top three states (a ratio of 55 out of 100 low-income students), the program would serve an additional 31,728 children and provide a total of $6.3 million each year in additional federal funds to Maryland schools.

Maryland does rank well in school participation, with 94 percent of the schools that offer school lunch also offering school breakfast in 2004-2005, the 13 th highest proportion among all states. Unfortunately, this high level of school participation has not translated into high student participation levels.

The state has funded efforts to increase participation through implementation of universal breakfast programs, which offer free breakfast to all students. The “Maryland Meals for Achievement” (MMFA) program helps elementary schools implement breakfast in the classroom each morning for all children. For the 2004-2005 school year, the state budget included $1.9 million to support MMFA, which allowed the program to operate in approximately 130 elementary schools across Maryland.

While these efforts are laudable, acceleration of breakfast participation, especially among middle and high schools students, is necessary for the state to begin to catch up with the average state, much less the better-performing states, and meet the needs of low-income students.

Increasing the number of schools providing universal breakfast, conducting outreach to students and families, and including school breakfast promotion in local school 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.

School Breakfast Program funding is available on an entitlement basis to eligible public and non-profit private 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.

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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.