Many children do not eat a nutritious breakfast every morning. Often families are living on very tight budgets and can't afford to provide good breakfasts at home every day nor the money to buy them at school. Regardless of income, families today live busy lives that often make it difficult to sit down long enough in the morning to eat a nutritious breakfast. Sometimes children are not physically capable of eating breakfast at home when they first wake up. Other children may have long commutes to school or long periods between breakfast at home and school lunch, making breakfast at school an important option.

History
The School Breakfast Program (SBP) was established by Congress - first as a pilot program in 1966 in areas where children had long bus rides to school and in areas where many mothers were in the workforce, then as a permanent entitlement program in 1975 to assist schools in providing nutritious morning meals to the nation's children.

Benefits
Breakfasts served as part of the SBP provide one-fourth or more of the daily recommended levels for key nutrients that children need. They are required to provide no more than 30 percent of calories from fat and less than 10 percent of calories from saturated fat. Research shows that children who have school breakfast eat more fruits, drink more milk, and consume a wider variety of foods than those who don't eat breakfast or have breakfast at home.

Studies conclude that students who eat school breakfast increase their math and reading scores as well as improve their speed and memory in cognitive tests. Research also shows that children who eat breakfast at school - closer to class and test-taking time - perform better on standardized tests than those who skip breakfast or eat breakfast at home.

Universal school breakfast refers to any school program that offers breakfast at no charge to all students, regardless of income. (Schools that offer universal school breakfast are still in the minority, and must seek local or state resources to cover any additional costs involved.) Many universal school breakfast programs provide breakfast in the classroom when school starts in the morning, rather than in the cafeteria before school starts, which makes it easier for children to participate.

Schools that provide universal breakfast in the classroom report decreases in discipline and psychological problems, visits to school nurses and tardiness; increases in student attentiveness and attendance; and generally improved learning environments.

Participation
On a typical day during the 2006-07 school year, 9.9 million children in more than 84,500 schools and institutions participated in the SBP. Of these children, 81 percent received free or reduced price breakfasts.

About 85 percent of schools that serve lunch also serve breakfast. In the 2006-07 school year, 45.3 children received free or reduced price school breakfast for every 100 who received free-or reduced price school lunch, although this ratio varied among the states from 32.9 per 100 to 61.1 per 100. Research shows that universal school breakfast programs dramatically increase student participation in school breakfast.

Eligibility
Household income determines if a child is eligible to receive free or reduced price meals, or must pay most of the cost. (Any student at a school that participates in the SBP may purchase a meal.)

To receive free breakfast, household income must be at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty level; for reduced price breakfast, income must be at or below 185 percent. Children from households with income above 185 percent of the federal poverty level pay most of the price for breakfast, although their meals are still partially subsidized.

Usually, parents apply to their children's school in order for their children to receive free or reduced price meals. The same application covers both lunch and breakfast. However, children from households that receive food stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) are automatically eligible for free school meals. Homeless, runaway and migrant children are also automatically eligible for free school meals.

Reimbursement and Funding
The SBP provides per meal cash reimbursements to public and non-profit private schools and residential childcare institutions that provide free and reduced price breakfasts to eligible children. Reimbursable meals must meet federal nutrition standards.

For the 2007-08 school year, schools are reimbursed $1.35 per free breakfast served, $1.05 per reduced priced breakfast, and $0.24 per paid breakfast. Schools where at least 40 percent of the lunches served were free or reduced price may qualify for extra "severe need" reimbursements of $0.26 per free or reduced price breakfast served.

For schools and institutions that participate in the SBP, Provision 2 is an option that enables them to provide free universal school breakfast to all of their students while reducing paperwork and administrative costs.

Under Provision 2, all students receive free meals, regardless of income, and schools collect applications for free and reduced price meals once every four years, at most. Also, schools under Provision 2 do not have to track and record the different categories of meals served for at least three out of every four years. Provision 2 schools pay the difference between the cost of serving meals at no charge to all students and the federal reimbursement.

For fiscal year 2006, federal reimbursements for the SBP totaled $2 billion dollars.

FRAC RESOURCES

School Wellness Policy and Practice: Meeting the Needs of Low-Income Students

Advocate's Guide to School Nutrition Programs

FRAC 2007 School Breakfast Scorecard, an annual status report on the SBP, including state rankings

Fact sheet on the SBP

Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 reauthorized and amended the laws that govern the School Breakfast Program

Information about Universal School Breakfast programs that offer breakfast at no charge to all students, regardless of income.

Information about Provision 2, an option for schools to reduce the paperwork and simplify the logistics of operating school meals programs.

Breakfast for Learning, a summary of recent scientific research on the link between children's nutrition and academic performance.

FRAC's School Meals Outreach Brochure (English; Spanish version) explains to parents that they may seek free or reduced price school meals for their children at any time during the school year.

Income Guidelines and Reimbursement Rates for the child nutrition programs.

More information on student eligibility for the SBP

Reaching homeless, runaway and migrant children with the SBP

Policy Brief on Competitive Foods in Schools

State of the States, FRAC's profile of food and nutrition programs in the nation and in each state.

Current news and analyses on child nutrition program issues.

Summary of the Universal School Breakfast Program Pilot Project Interim Report

USDA RESOURCES

Welcome to the School Breakfast Program, from the USDA Child Nutrition Division, provides detailed information about operating school breakfast programs.

Contact information for the State Agencies Administering the School Breakfast Program.

USDA Discover School Breakfast Tool Kit.

Eating Breakfast Greatly Improves Schoolchildren's Diet Quality from the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion shows that children who eat school breakfast have better overall diets.

Third School Nutrition Dietary Assessment Study reports on the progress made by schools across the nation in improving the healthfulness of meals served in the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs. Click here for USDA news release.

GAO Report on Competitive Foods in Schools

Updated January 2008

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