Rurality in education research is a function of the size of the school, the distance of a school in relation to urban areas, and factors within each school that may differentiate the school community based on geography. Distance matters. This study finds variation between rural communities at different distances from an urban center and…

The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) of the National School Lunch Program allows high-poverty schools to provide USDA school meals at no charge to all of their students. USDA reimbursement for meals is simplified by making use of routinely collected administrative data, such as participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program…

Over 42 million meals--31.2 million lunches and 11 million breakfasts--were served on a typical school day in fiscal year 2009 to children through USDA's National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. School food authorities (SFAs) operate local school feeding programs and deliver the meals to the schools. SFAs must serve appealing,…

This study examines the extent to which location influences school foodservice costs per meal. It does not examine the effects of cost variation on financial solvency of an school food authority (SFA) or the adequacy of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) meal reimbursements. Higher per meal costs do not necessarily indicate that an SFA is…