Colorado's Healthy School Meals for All (HSMA) program provides free breakfast and lunch to all students, regardless of economic background, and aims to strengthen farm-to-school systems and school food service workers' pay. After unexpected increases in student participation, the program faced a significant budget shortfall that raised warning…

The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 allows school districts to provide free meals to all students if over 40 percent of them are directly certified as free-meal eligible. While emerging evidence documents positive effects on student behavior and academics, critics worry that CEP has unintended…

Purpose/Objectives: This study assessed current practices and attitudes of school nutrition program (SNP) management staff regarding free and reduced-price (F-RP) meal application and verification in SNPs. Methods: Stratified, randomly selected 1,500 SNP management staff in 14 states received a link to an online questionnaire and/or a printed…

This report presents findings from the Access Evaluation, a study component that is designed to assess the potential impacts of direct certification-Medicaid (DC-M) on students' access to free school meals by conducting retrospective simulations of DC-M in school year 2011-2012, the year before the demonstration began. For the Access Evaluation,…

Purpose/Objectives: A national trend to improve school breakfast participation is the integration of breakfast within the school day. Breakfast in the classroom programs increase student access to school breakfast. Service models include "grab and go," distribution of breakfasts to each classroom, and mobile breakfast carts in hallways.…

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP) provide federal financial assistance and commodities to schools serving lunches and breakfasts that meet required nutrition standards. Under the NSLP and the SBP, millions of American students receive a free or reduced-price lunch and/or breakfast every school day.…

This document provides findings of a study that examined in detail the cost of producing reimbursable meals in the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs (NSL and SBP) during school year 1992-93. The study examined the costs charged to SFAs (reported costs) and those costs incurred by the school district in support of SFA operations, but not…

This document presents findings of a study that examined in detail the cost of producing reimbursable meals in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs (NSL and SBP) during school year 1992-93. The study examined the costs charged to SFAs (reported costs) and those costs incurred by the school district in support of SFA operations,…

There is concern that low-income children might be coming to school without eating breakfast and still not be participating in the School Breakfast Program (SBP) for a variety of reasons, including a perceived stigma associating school breakfast participation with poverty. One approach to increasing participation in the SBP is to offer free…