Many kids skip free breakfasts

Nebraska and Iowa children who qualify for free- or reduced-price lunch at school are less likely than those in most other states to also eat breakfast at school, a national survey indicates.

In both Nebraska and Iowa, 38 of every 100 students who qualified for subsidized lunches also ate breakfast at school last year.

The Food Research and Action Center, which prepared the report, ranked the states 44th and 45th, respectively, in the number of students qualifying for subsidized school lunches who also ate breakfast at school. The center is a Washington-based nonprofit.

In both states, the number was up slightly from the 37 percent of low-income students who ate school breakfast during the 2007-2008 school year.

Locally, Omaha Public Schools stood out, ranking 13th among 25 large urban school districts surveyed, with nearly 49 percent of students receiving subsidized lunch also eating breakfast.

The district offers complimentary breakfast to all students, regardless of income, at all of its buildings. Children of all income levels participate. The district serves about 18,000 breakfasts every school day.

“It’s a way for them to have a nourishing breakfast to start the day,” said Tammy Yarmon, OPS director of nutrition services.

The district sees more participation as the weather gets colder, she said. And this year, the economy also appears to be playing a role.

“This fall, with the economy, it seems children are taking even more advantage of the program,” Yarmon said.

Nationally, nearly 47 percent of low-income students ate breakfast at school last year, also up from the year before. But both the national group and the Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest, a legal advocacy group for low-income people, said the breakfast program still is reaching too few children.

“Lost jobs and wages in our state mean that even more children are eligible for free and reduced-priced meals,” said Rebecca Gould, Nebraska Appleseed’s executive director, “but this report shows that too many are missing out.”

The groups called on Congress, which is slated to reauthorize child nutrition programs, to improve participation by creating a start-up grants program, expanding programs that serve all children in low-income schools, and raising income eligibility limits for subsidized meals.

The proposed changes would make it easier for more schools to offer school breakfast.

Currently, according to the report, some 71 percent of the Nebraska schools that participate in the school lunch program also offer breakfast. In Iowa, nearly 92 percent of schools in the lunch program offer breakfast.

Contact the writer:

444-1223, julie.anderson@owh.com

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