Measures available on kidsdata.org include the number and percentage of K-12 students enrolled in the Free or Reduced Price Meal Program at school during 1998-2006, and number and percentage of K-12 students eligible for the Free or Reduced Price Meal Program during 2007-2010. (Enrollment data are not available after 2006.) In addition, data are provided by enrollment and eligibility status for free meals only, reduced price meals only, or neither.

A child's family income must fall below 130% of the federal poverty guidelines ($28,665 for a family of four in 2010) to qualify for free meals, or below 185% of the federal poverty guidelines (or $40,793 for a family of four in 2010) to qualify for reduced-cost meals.

The Free or Reduced Price Meal Program provides a safety net to help ensure that low-income children get adequate nutrition. For some children, school meals are the most significant meals of the day. Children who are hungry have trouble concentrating in class and have less energy for school. In addition, their health and development can be affected by poor nutrition. Student eligibility for this program also serves as a proxy measure of local child poverty.

School breakfast and lunch can provide low-income children with nutritious and affordable meals, but these programs do not serve many children who are eligible to receive them for free or at reduced price. Several challenges hinder enrollment and participation in free and reduced price school meals. Paperwork issues and stigma are among factors that prevent households from applying. (1, 3, 4, 5) Efforts to serve students when and where they are able to eat (e.g. serving breakfast from multiple campus locations and/or after the school day begins) are known to significantly improve participation in school breakfast. (1, 2, 3)

According to research and subject experts, policy-related actions that could improve free and reduced price school meal participation include:

• Utilizing authority under state law and the recently reauthorized federal Child Nutrition Act to make it simpler and less stigmatizing for students to access free and reduced-price school meals, while streamlining administration at the school level; this includes “direct certification,” which allows school districts to automatically qualify children in families receiving CalWORKS or food stamps for free school meals (4, 5, 6)
• Adopting school district-wide use of effective service models like Classroom Breakfast, Second Chance Breakfast, and Grab n’ Go (different approaches to serving breakfast during the school day, in class, or outside of traditional settings) to increase participation and decrease stigma associated with subsidized breakfast (1, 2, 3)

For more policy recommendations and research on this topic, see the Research & Links section on kidsdata.org or visit California Food Policy Advocates, the BreakfastFirst Campaign, the Food Research & Action Center, and Action for Healthy Kids. Also see Policy Implications on kidsdata.org under Family Income & Poverty, and Nutrition/Breakfast.

Sources for this narrative:

1. BreakfastFirst, http://www.breakfastfirst.org/tools/resources.shtml
2. Shimada, Tia. (2009). Evaluating School Breakfast and Implementing Second Chance Breakfast (California Food Policy Advocates).  http://www.breakfastfirst.org/pdfs/NUSD_full%20report%20in%20color_final.pdf
3. United States Department of Agriculture. (2009). School Breakfast Program: Strategies for School Breakfast Expansion. http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/breakfast/expansion/expansionstrategies.htm
4. US Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service. (2009). Report to Congress, Direct Certification in the National School Lunch Program: State Implementation Progress. http://www.fns.usda.gov/ORA/menu/Published/CNP/FILES/NSLPDirectCertification2009.pdf
5. Hsu, Cathy. (2009). There is Such a Thing as a Free Lunch: Effective direct certification and direct verification to ensure adequate nutrition for California’s children. (California Food Policy Advocates). http://www.cfpa.net/School_Food/Free%20Lunch%20-%20Effective%20DC%20and%20DV%20in%20California.pdf
6. 111th Congress. (2010). Healthy, Hunger-free Kids Act of 2010. http://ag.senate.gov/site/ComLeg/s3307.pdf

The percentage of California students who are eligible for free or reduced price school meals increased between 2008 and 2010, from about 51% to 56%. The percentage also increased for most counties during this period, with county figures ranging from 25% to 76% in 2010. Far more California students are eligible for free meals (47%) than reduced price meals (9%).

Statewide enrollment in the Free or Reduced Price School Meal Program held fairly steady during 1998-2001 (around 47-48%), but then increased between 2002 and 2006, from 47% of students to 51%. Enrollment varied widely by county and school district. (Enrollment data are not available after 2006.)

• BreakfastFirst, California Food Policy Advocates
• California Healthy Kids Resource Center, California Department of Education & Caifornia Department of Public Health
• Child Trends
• Food Research and Action Center (FRAC)
• Journal of Nutrition, The American Society for Nutrition
• National Center for Children in Poverty

• Breakfast and Learning: An Updated Review, 2007, Current Nutrition and Food Science, Murphy
• Diet, Breakfast, and Academic Performance in Children, 2002, Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, Kleinman et al.
• Food Insecurity Affects School Children’s Academic Performance, Weight Gain, and Social Skills, 12/2005, American Society for Nutrition, Jyoti, Frongillo & Jones
• Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation: Summer Nutrition Status Report, 06/2010, FRAC
• Improving Child Nutrition Policy: Insights from National USDA Study of School Food Environments, 2009, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• Inconsistent Access to Food in Low-Income Households May Contribute to Weight Gain, 05/2006, The Journal of Nutrition, Wilde
• Kids Share 2011: Report on Federal Expenditures on Children Through 2010, 07/2011, Brookings Institution & Urban Institute
• Map the Meal Gap: Child Food Insecurity, 2011, Feeding America
• School Breakfast Scorecard: 2009-2010, 2011, FRAC
• The National School Lunch Program Background and Development, 05/2009, USDA Food and Nutrition Services, Gunderson
• The Real Cost of a Healthy Diet: High Food Costs Outstrip Food Stamp Benefits, 09/2008, C-SNAP at Boston Medical Center & The Philadelphia Grow Project at Drexel University
• Who Are America’s Poor Children? Examining Health Disparities by Race and Ethnicity, 07/2011, National Center for Children in Poverty

• Tulare County Children’s Report Card 2010, 2011, Children's Services Network

add your report to kidsdata.org

Do you have a local or regional report relevant to a topic on kidsdata.org? If you’d like to add it to our research and links section, please send it to us at kidsdata@lpfch.org.