Breakfast Program Faces Cuts Record Use Last Year, Advocates Say

A record number of low-income students used the school breakfast program last year, which worries anti-poverty advocates who saw Congress cut funding that would help expand the program.

In the new welfare law, federal dollars were eliminated for startup programs at schools that don’t take advantage of the nutrition program. About $5 million was taken from the School Breakfast budget in the current fiscal year; similar amounts will be taken from subsequent budgets.

“The money is for educational materials for local school boards to get out the word that there is a government program that is available, it’s an entitlement,” said Ed Cooney, a child nutrition expert at the Food Research and Action Center, which studies food and nutrition issues affecting low-income Americans. “Without the startup funds, it’s going to be very difficult to get the word out.”

Overall, funding for the breakfast program increased by 9 percent this year over last. But the startup cuts are troublesome to Cooney and others, particularly since some 26,000 public and private schools around the nation do not have morning feeding programs.

“It’s ironic,” Cooney said. “Congress wants to keep this program, but doesn’t want to get the word out?”

A survey by Cooney’s group found that during the 1995-96 school year, low-income students at a record 65,000 public and private schools were able to eat federally subsidized breakfasts.

Many low-income families have counted on school meal programs to ensure that their children receive needed nutrition during the day. Numerous studies have shown that kids who have eaten adequately before class find it easier to pay attention.

The survey found that in schools that offer both breakfast and lunch programs, many needy students use both. Seventy-one percent of the schools that provide lunch also serve breakfast, and 40 percent of the children who eat subsidized lunches also use the breakfast program.

The survey found that 5.6 million low-income students took part in the program on a daily basis during the 1995-96 school year, an increase of 200,000 from the year before.

The School Breakfast Program began with temporary funding 1966.