National School Breakfast Week

What is the School Breakfast Program?

The School Breakfast Program is a federally assisted meal program that operates in 1, 262 of Wisconsin's public and private schools and serves 80,976 students. School Breakfast is served in elementary through high school grades and in both rural and urban areas. Currently in Wisconsin, only 50.4% of schools that serve school lunch also serve school breakfast. This low number has prompted Governor Doyle to take a strong interest in increasing the participation rate in the School Breakfast Program among Wisconsin schools.

The School Breakfast Program operates very similarly to the School Lunch Program. Like the lunch program, the School Breakfast Program allows children to qualify for free or reduced priced meals, based on their family's income. The School Breakfast Program is also required to meet certain nutritional and portion size requirements.

Benefits of School Breakfast

• School breakfast improves the quality of children’s diets
  • Increases consumption of fruits and vegetables.
  • Decreases consumption of fat.
  • Increases consumption of vitamin C, folate, and magnesium.
• School breakfast helps students perform better academically
  • Children score higher on tests involving math, reading, and memory recall.
  • Breakfast provides energy to learn and be productive.
• School breakfast improves student behavior
  • Students are less irritable and restless.
  • Attentions spans among students are greater.
• School Breakfast improves the learning environment
  • Students are absent less often.
  • Students are tardy less often.
  • Students complain of fewer headaches and fatigue in class.
• School Breakfast allows all students the opportunity to have a nutritious breakfast
  • Not all students are able to eat breakfast at home.
  • School breakfast decreases the number of hungry children at school.
• School breakfast may reduce the prevalence of obesity
  • Skipping breakfast has shown to increase food consumption later in the day in adults.

Key Points about School Breakfast

• School breakfast is for every student, regardless of income.
• Children may not eat breakfast at home because they are not hungry when they first wake up or there is not enough time.
• Middle school and high school students are less likely to eat breakfast.