More kids get free breakfasts

WASHINGTON – More children than ever are getting free or reduced-price breakfasts at school, an anti-hunger group said Tuesday.

Still, the School Breakfast Program only reaches two in five youngsters who need it, according to a report released by the Food Research and Action Center.

“No child should have to start the school day hungry to learn, but unable to do so because of a hungry stomach,” said James Weill, the center’s president. “The states and schools that are leaving millions of hungry children behind need to act now.”

In the 2004-05 school year, 7.5 million kids got breakfast for free or at a reduced price, the group said. The number represented a 5.3 percent increase from the previous year and was the biggest hike in a decade, the report said.

The reason for the increase is that more schools are serving breakfast.

In New Jersey, a new law requires schools to offer breakfast if 20 percent or more students qualify for the school lunch program. Accordingly, New Jersey had the biggest jump in children getting school breakfasts, rising 39 percent to 114,387 children. The law took effect last year for elementary schools and applies this year to secondary schools as well.

The federal government doesn’t require schools to serve breakfast. Some states require breakfasts for certain schools, usually ones with more low-income students. Others offer financial incentives or startup funding for breakfast programs.

Nationwide, more than 81 percent of schools in the lunch program were also in the breakfast program, up from 79.4 percent last year.

The group said at least 1.8 million more children could get breakfasts if schools served them, the group said.

Feeding children breakfast helps improve their achievement and behavior in school, makes them healthier and helps prevent them from getting overweight, the group said.

Under the breakfast program, the federal government reimburses schools – public and nonprofit private schools – for providing meals to kids. Breakfasts are free for about 90 percent of the children; the rest pay about 30 cents per meal.

The Agriculture Department runs the breakfast program as well as the National School Lunch Program. The breakfast program is smaller, serving about 44 of every 100 children who get free or discounted lunches.

The report’s data came from the Agriculture Department and a survey of state nutrition officials.