School Breakfast Reaching More Children in New York State

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School Breakfast Reaching More Children in New York State

Report Shows Brentwood Union Free School District Makes Largest Percent Increase in Participation of 57 School Districts Nationwide

Albany, NY—January 15, 2013—School year 2011-2012 showed progress in New York State’s effort to reach more low-income children with school breakfast. New York State schools served 43 low-income children breakfast for every 100 who received lunch during the 2011-2012 school year, according to a new national report released today. This is an increase from the previous school year when only 41out of 100 low-income students received breakfast each day. 

Such increases improve school attendance and student behavior, boost learning and test scores, and improve student health. 

The School Breakfast Scorecard, released annually by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), measures the reach of the School Breakfast Program (SBP) nationally and by state.  For the first time nationally, more than half (50.4 percent) of all low-income students who participated in school lunch also participated in school breakfast. Overall, more than 10.5 million children received a free or reduced-price breakfast each school day during the 2011-2012 school year, an increase of 738,869 children (7.5 percent) from the previous year.

“While we commend school districts across the state for making improvements, New York State as a whole must do a better job of making breakfast more accessible to students,” said Linda Bopp, Executive Director of Hunger Solutions New York. “Otherwise children are missing out on the valuable impact breakfast has on educational achievement and health.” 

Low participation means missed meals for hungry children and missed dollars for New York State. Increasing participation to 70 percent would lead to an additional 324,944 low-income children who eat breakfast each day, and New York State school districts would receive more than $79 million in additional child nutrition funding. 

Ensuring more students participate in the School Breakfast Program will likely be one of the goals of Governor Cuomo’s Statewide Anti-Hunger Task Force. The Task Force, announced in the Governor’s 2013 State of the State, will work to increase participation in federally-funded anti-hunger programs like school breakfast and “bring proven best  practices to our state to help those in need.”

Large School Districts Compared

A companion analysis by FRAC, School Breakfast: Making it Work in Large School Districts, examined school breakfast participation and policies in 57 school districts across the country, including three from New York State: Syracuse, Brentwood, and New York City.  

Several strategies employed by the three New York State districts contribute to increased participation rates. Chief among them is offering breakfast free of charge to all children, as well as moving breakfast service out of the cafeteria and into the classroom or using other service alternatives. The report found that school districts with the highest participation rates all have large-scale programs that allow students to eat breakfast in their classrooms at the beginning of the school day.  

Brentwood Union Free School District Sees Largest Increase in Participation

According to the FRAC report, the school district showing the greatest improvement in School Breakfast Program participation by low-income students over the past year was the Brentwood Union Free School District with a 64.9% increase. They implemented alternative service methods such as breakfast in the classroom last year.

 “Brentwood Union Free School District is a great example of what works well to reach more children with school breakfast,” said Bopp. “It is clear that serving breakfast in the classroom is the most successful way to increase participation, and we encourage more schools to move to this model. We are calling on every school district in New York State to examine its breakfast program and look at ways to reach even more children with nutritious meals.” 

• In Brentwood Union Free School District, 33.5 low-income children ate breakfast for every 100 who also ate lunch. While this is one of the lowest rates in the report, efforts have already increased participation by 65 percent over the prior school year.
• If Brentwood reached the goal of serving 70:100, it would serve an additional 3,570 children and gain an additional $915,913 in federal child nutrition funding. 
• In Syracuse City School District, 63.4 low-income children ate breakfast for every 100 who also ate lunch. They have been successful in implementing alternative service methods.
• If Syracuse reached the goal of serving 70:100, it would serve an additional 797 children and gain an additional $212,669 in federal child nutrition funding. 
• In New York City, 35.3 low-income children ate breakfast for every 100 who also ate lunch.
• If New York City reached the goal of serving 70:100, it would serve an additional 185,383 children and gain an additional $50,341,750 in federal child nutrition funding. 

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About the report: 
The full report, School Breakfast Scorecard, is available at www.frac.org. To measure the reach of the School Breakfast Program nationally and in the states, FRAC compares the number of schools and low-income children that participate in breakfast to those that participate in the National School Lunch Program. FRAC also sets a participation goal of reaching 70 children with breakfast for every 100 receiving lunch as a way to gauge state progress and the costs of under participation in the program. 

Hunger Solutions New York is a statewide organization dedicated to alleviating hunger for all New Yorkers. For more information visit www.HungerSolutionsNY.org.