Federal
Child Nutrition Programs for Schools
Several federal
child nutrition programs provide funds for breakfast, lunch, snacks,
and sometimes dinner so that children can be fed while they are
in school, after and before school, and during the summer. These
programs are entitlements, which means that every eligible child
can receive their nutritional benefits.
- School
Breakfast Program. Research shows that eating a nutritious
breakfast is key to a student’s ability to concentrate and learn
during the school day, and the closer to class time students eat
the better they learn. Some schools have applied this research
to the classroom by having breakfast served on carts to students
on the way to class or in the classroom every morning at the start
of first period. And at all times of the day, food can be combined
with learning opportunities. The Pittston Area Capable Readers
Program in Pennsylvania has combined the School Breakfast Program
with a read-aloud program to create a positive attitude toward
nutrition and reading. Principal Catherine Lapsansky reports that
the morning meal draws the students in, so “the reading program
would not succeed without the benefits of the School Breakfast
Program.” - National
School Lunch Program. Almost all public schools, 95 percent,
participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), which
serves an average of more than twenty-six million meals per day.
It typically provides students with one-third of their Recommended
Dietary Allowances, which gives them the food they need to continue
to learn throughout the day. Without the school lunch program,
many students would have nothing to eat during lunch time. Some
students don’t participate in free and reduced meal programs,
when they are available, because they do not want to be labeled
“poor.” One way to counter the stigma is to offer “universal”
free breakfast or lunch, in other words, free for all children.
Schools with a relatively high proportion of low-income students
can serve universal free school breakfast and school lunch using
federal paperwork-saving mechanisms called Provisions II and III. - Afterschool
Snacks. At the end of the day, students are hungry because
they ate lunch hours before. Schools can use additional federal
funds from the National School Lunch Program to serve snacks to
students age 19 and under in afterschool and youth development
programs, even if a school’s afterschool program is operated by
a separate non-profit such as the YMCA. Many afterschool programs
are using the food provided by the child nutrition programs to
attract children. In the 21st Century Learning Centers operated
by Washoe County School District in Nevada, Joe Saunders, the
grant coordinator, views the snacks and meals as a pivotal recruiting
tool to pull in children, as well as a way to ensure that the
children in the centers are able to learn. - Summer
Food Service Program. The summer, and long vacations, can
be especially difficult time for low-income families that depend
upon school meals to feed their children during the school year.
Schools, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies can
sponsor the Summer Food Service Program to serve children up to
two meals a day. In St. Helens School District #502 in Oregon,
which combines a summer recreation program with the Summer Food
Service Program, one child rode his bike seven miles each day
to participate in the program. - Other
Nutrition resources for Families & Children.
Food Stamp Program: The child nutrition programs are designed
to make sure that children are not going hungry while they are
in school or participating in out of school time programs. But
it is just as important that children not be hungry in their homes.
The Food Stamp Program, which provides direct nutritional assistance
to low-income families, is considered the first line of defense
against childhood hunger. Many students who qualify for free or
reduced-price school meals qualify for food stamps, but often
are not receiving them.Child and Adult Care Food Program provides nutritious meals
and snacks to infants, young children, and impaired adults who
receive day care.
Eligibility
for the school meals and snacks is determined based on a child’s
household income. Schools collect applications from students that
help determine how many students are eligible for free and reduced-rate
meals, and in some cases snacks. The school meals application is
important, not only because it determines reimbursement rates for
school meals, but it often is used to determine the amount of additional
state and federal educational funding that support educating low-income
students, such as Title I. School meal applications can also be
used to link low-income students with additional services, such
as health insurance.
What can
schools do to ensure that students are not hungry?
- Learn more
about these programs and how your school can apply from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Services. - Learn more
about other schools and model programs for participation in these
child nutrition programs from the Food
Research and Action Center (FRAC), a national organization
working to encourage broader use of the child nutrition programs
and to provide technical assistance to educators, and nonprofit
organizations. FRAC’s website also includes hunger statistics
and profiles of each state’s participation in Federal Food Programs. - Learn about
the school food service industry, including child nutrition and
federal nutrition program facts, from the American
School Food Service Association.