School Breakfast Program

[1] All children in participating schools and residential institutions are eligible for a federally subsidized meal, regardless of family income.

[2][1] The program began as a 2-year pilot project in 1966 designed to provide grants to assist schools serving "nutritionally needy" students.

[6] Federal funding is provided in the form of cash reimbursements for each breakfast served, varied in amount by the family income of the participating child.

A school may receive a higher reimbursement rate for serving free or reduced-price meals to more than 40% of their students in the previous year.

[2][1] The USDA has to formulate their meal patterns and nutrition according to the Dietary Guidelines of Americans as directed by The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.

[10] Past discoveries have been made that students who participate in school breakfast programs have higher standardized test scores and lower levels of absenteeism.

[11] More recent research has found a positive correlation between school breakfast program participation and academic grades, specifically in the subject of mathematics, along with a decrease in absences and lateness.

[10] This was demonstrated by a research study on sixth-grade students in a Midwest urban school district who ate breakfast and had significantly higher math scores than their peers who had low nutrient intakes.

[10] In a study on high school students, male participants reported feeling more positive after eating a nutritious breakfast.

[10] All in all, healthy eating is essential for the growth and development of children and youth and schools have long been recognized as a setting for public health intervention.

Recent research disputed the claim of Perdue citing the findings that children consume more veggies and a smaller amount of saturated fat at school.