School Breakfast Program

The School Breakfast Program reduces hunger and supports student health, beahvior, and academic achievement.

Participation in the School Breakfast Program is linked to:

Decreased risk of food insecurity

• Offering free breakfast to all students can eliminate disparities between food-secure and food-insecure children.
• Access to school breakfast decreases the risk of marginal food insecurity and breakfast skipping, especially for low-income children.

Improved academic performance

• Children who eat breakfast at school—closer to class and test-taking time—perform better on standardized tests than those who skip breakfast or eat breakfast at home.
• Providing breakfast to students at school improves their concentration, alertness, comprehension, memory, and learning.
• Children who skip breakfast are less able to master the tasks necessary to do well in school.
• Children who live in families that experience hunger have lower math scores, an increased likelihood of repeating a grade, and receive more special education services.

Reduced behavioral problems

• Students who participate in school breakfast show improved attendance, behavior, and academic performance as well as decreased tardiness.
• Teenagers experiencing hunger are more likely to be suspended from school and to have difficulty getting along with other children and establishing friendships.

Improved diets in children

• All meals meet nutrition guidelines that limit sodium and saturated fats and eliminate trans fats.
• School breakfast participants are more likely to consume diets that are adequate or exceed standards for essential vitamins and minerals (e.g., vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, phosphorus).
• School breakfast participation is associated with a lower body mass index (BMI, an indicator of excess body fat), lower probability of being overweight, and lower likelihood of obesity.
• School breakfast also helps build lifelong healthy eating habits.

Sources:

• School Meals are Essential to Health and Learning
• The Connections Between Food Insecurity, the Federal Nutrition Programs, and Student Behavior

• New York enacted statewide universal free school meals starting in the 2025-2026 school year. New York schools operating this program provide free breakfast and lunch to all students.
• The Breakfast After the Bell legislation requires high-poverty public schools—defined as schools with 70% or more students who qualify for free or reduced-price school meals—to provide Breakfast After the Bell (after the start of the instructional day). [Section 2, Part B of Chapter 56 of the Laws of 2018]
  • Schools with 70% or more students who qualify for free or reduced-price school breakfast are required to implement Breakfast After the Bell.
  • Each school year, New York State Education Department identifies schools based upon data submitted through the basic educational data system (BEDS) for the prior school year.
  • Schools can choose which Breakfast After the Bell model best suits their needs.
  • Breakfast in the Classroom counts as instructional time.
• The 2019-20 executive budget provided $2.3 million to eliminate students’ reduced-price copayment for both breakfast and lunch. Students who qualify for reduced-price school meals receive breakfast, lunch, and snacks at no cost. The State supplements the cost to school districts by providing an additional 25 cents per meal and 15 cents per snack—which was once covered by students—to their state reimbursement for reduced-price meals.
• All severe need elementary schools in districts with at least 125,000 inhabitants are required to participate in the SBP. In severe need public schools, the state reimburses all expenses exceeding revenues in the first year of implementation. Schools are considered “severe need” if at least 40 percent of the lunches served during the previous school year were free or reduced-price. [8 N.Y. CODES R. & REGS. § 114.2]

Breakfast in the Classroom: This model is often associated with younger students, but can be used in middle and high schools as well. Typically, meals are delivered to and eaten in the classroom, after the official start of the school day. Meals delivery methods vary from school to school.

Grab and Go: Grab and Go provides remarkable flexibility for schools. Students pick up conveniently packaged breakfasts from mobile service carts or vending machines in high traffic areas—such as hallways, entryways, or quick cafeteria lines—when they arrive at school or between classes. Students can eat in their classroom or in a common area.

Second Chance Breakfast: Breakfast service is shifted to later in the morning with this model, often between first and second period. Schools can serve breakfast in the same manner they would with Grab and Go, or can re-open the cafeteria and allow students time to eat there.