Free Breakfast Helps Kids Perform

The Free Breakfast Program Has Made a Difference in Children and in Their Schools

Education analysts have recently discovered that the amount of students who are consuming free breakfast has greatly risen.

Why this is so important may not jump off the page, however, it is basically an indicator that there are more and lower income households across the nation.

Considering the fact that minimum wage has not increased in ten years, this is not surprising.

The federal breakfast program has also shifted to reach more children.

The program currently feeds only 2/5 of the students who meet the eligibility requirements.

While this seems like it is less than it should be, the program feeds 7.7 million low income students each year.

The state with the highest increase of low-income breakfast eaters is New Mexico.

58% of low-income students are eating breakfast in this state.

While the increase of breakfast eaters has increased, state officials would like to see more children taking advantage of the free breakfast program.

In fact, state officials spent close to a half million trying to boost participation in the program.

It is a well known fact that students learn more and perform at a higher rate when they are not hungry.

It is for this reason that the free breakfast program was implemented in the first place. Too many children were coming to school with empty bellies and throughout the morning there was decreased focus and inability to function as well as they would have been with some food in their tummies.

Clearly, the free breakfast program is not the only solution to fight against distraction and inability to function, however it is a step in the right direction for America's schools.

West Virginia, South Carolina, Kentucky, Oregon, Vermont, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Georgia and Mississippi all have a great number of participants as well.

Louisiana also saw a big drop in participation, close to 12%.

This was most likely because of Hurricane Katrina.

The breakfast program is actually run by the Agriculture Department which reimburses schools. The average cost of each breakfast is $.30.