FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOLS SLOW IN RECOGNIZING IMPORTANCE OF BREAKFAST

School Breakfast Report Card Shows District-by-District Performance

Harrisburg (December 13, 2005) Amid rising concern about childhood obesity and too little academic achievement, many Pennsylvania school districts are still ignoring one of the most obvious tools to reach their goals – implementation of the federally financed School Breakfast Program.

A national report released today by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) shows that Pennsylvania has slipped in the national rankings from 38 th to 42 nd among the states in making school breakfast available to students in need. The full FRAC report is available at http://www.frac.org/Press_Release/12.13.05.html.

Data provided by the PA Department of Education show that in the 2004-05 school year, daily participation in school breakfast programs across the state averaged 212,358 students. This compares to an average of 196,592 students in 2003-04 and is an increase of 8 percent. Among low-income students, the increase was 7 percent. While these increases demonstrate progress, they are less than what is being achieved in other states, thus accounting for the fact that Pennsylvania is being “left in the dust”.

Multiple research studies have shown that children have the best chance for academic success if they start their day with a nutritious breakfast. Studies have also shown that a healthy breakfast minimizes children’s consumption of junk foods and reduces the incidence of obesity and overweight.

Sue Mitchem, a child nutrition specialist for the Pennsylvania Hunger Action Center, commented on Pennsylvania’s ranking in the latest FRAC report. “Our state is making modest progress at a time when dramatic action is necessary. Our schools and our state policy-makers still haven’t made the obvious connection between how a child starts his or her day and big problems such as obesity and academic achievement. They’ve put breakfast in a box and don’t recognize it is part of the solution to bigger things.”

One obvious explanation for Pennsylvania’s relative decline is its lack of a state law requiring school districts to offer breakfast. All of Pennsylvania’s neighbors have such “breakfast mandates” except for Delaware. Pennsylvania, in contrast, leaves the decision to each school district.

During 2004-05 breakfast was available in 70 percent of Pennsylvania schools. In many schools the program is popular with students. Still other schools offer breakfast but do not take the steps to impress the program’s importance on parents and students. Districts need to market breakfast as a program which can benefit all children regardless of socio-economic background.

Expanding school breakfast should not be an economic problem for districts because adequate federal and state funding is available. Currently the number of Pennsylvania’s low-income children receiving school breakfast is only 36 percent of the number receiving school lunch. Were Pennsylvania to raise this ratio to 55 percent, which is the level achieved by leading states such as West Virginia and Kentucky, an additional $19.7 million in federal funds would be available to cover costs. Joyce Ciarla of the Mahanoy Area School District stated: “A well-run regular breakfast program can only enhance the bottom line for school food service. The regular breakfast program worked so well for us that we took the dramatic step of Universal Free Breakfast which gives free breakfast to all students.”

For students from families whose income is below 130 percent of poverty, breakfast is free. Students from families between 130 and 185 percent of poverty pay no more than 30 cents per breakfast. Students from families with incomes above 185 percent of poverty pay the full price, as determined by the local school district.

Increasingly, the option of eating breakfast in school is taken by children who can afford to pay. Statewide, during the past school year the number of full-price breakfasts increased by 8 percent.

The Pennsylvania School Breakfast Report Card, a comprehensive look at the performance of school districts across the state,includes five categories. In addition to citing schools that are not providing needed nutritional support, it gives recognition to schools that are offering exemplary breakfast programs. Key findings follow. Also attached is the full Report Card.

Star Performers

“Star Performers” are school districts that integrate breakfast into the school day and encourage all children to participate. Selected for recognition this year are districts in which average daily breakfast participation was at least 50 percent of average daily lunch participation. Leading the way in 2004-05 for the fifth consecutive year was Farrell Area School District in Mercer County. Breakfast participation at Farrell last year was 86 percent of lunch participation.

New schools in this year’s report include the following school districts: Avella Area (Washington), Union (Clarion), Purchase Line (Indiana), Turkeyfoot Valley Area (Somerset), Galeton Area (Potter) and Towanda Area (Bradford).

Getting the Job Done

Schools with many children from low-income families have a special responsibility because of the likelihood that some of those children had nothing to eat before they were sent off to school. Recognized here are districts that have high participation rates among at-risk kids.

Among school districts in which at least 29 percent of the children came from low-income families, fifteen stood out for serving breakfast to at least half of those students each day. Again topping this list of schools that are “Getting the Job Done” was Farrell Area School District; 82 percent of its low-income students had breakfast at school.

New to this category in the 2004-05 report are these districts: Avella Area (Washington), Jeannette City (Westmoreland), Conemaugh Township Area (Somerset), Turkeyfoot Valley Area (Somerset), Galeton Area (Potter), and Union (Clarion).

Moving Up!

Eleven school districts began offering the breakfast program last year including five school districts from last year’s list of “failures”. By starting breakfast, these eleven districts joined others that have made the link between nutrition, health and academics.

Also meriting special recognition for a change for the better are Valley View School District, which increased its daily breakfast attendance by 89 percent, and West Shore School District, which increased daily breakfast attendance by 88 percent.

Improvement Needed

Twelve school districts with at least 25 percent low-income students are cited for reaching only a tiny fraction of those students with breakfast. Kennett Consolidated (Chester), with 1297 low-income students, led this list; only 1 in 25 received school breakfast on a typical school day. At Mifflinburg Area (Union), which has over 601 low-income students, the ratio was also very poor (1 in 15).

Failing the Children

Twelve districts with a high ratio of low-income children did not offer breakfast in its schools. Once again Pottsville Area School District, with 1,300 low-income children and no breakfast program, had the dubious distinction of leading this list.

Barefield Development Corporation of Pottsville recently received a $373,000 Physical Education Program (PEP) grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant, “Pottsville Project Fit”, will increase the opportunities for fitness, good health and nutrition in the Pottsville schools and community. Craig Shields of the Barefield Development stated, “We are hopeful that ‘Pottsville Project Fit’ will help encourage the best possible health outcomes for our children, including bringing nutritious breakfasts to our schools.”

With schools across the state formulating federally mandated Wellness Policies to enhance student health, now is the perfect time for all schools to get on board with breakfast.  If not now, when?

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Star Performers

Making Breakfast a Regular Part of the School Day

Getting the Job Done

Serving Breakfast to Most Low-Income Children

 Moving Up!

Starting or Growing Breakfast Programs Last Year

Improvement Needed

Lots of Need – Few Breakfasts Served

Failing the Children

No Breakfast Despite the Need 

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