State Can’t Keep Up With School Breakfast Demand

February 8, 2010

MANSFIELD — Through 2011, state school districts participating in the National School Breakfast Program are losing reimbursements because more matching funds are going to the National School Lunch Program.

In fiscal year 2009, the state budgeted $2.8 million in School Breakfast Incentive Program reimbursements for participating schools. That year, breakfast matching funds were eliminated, and the breakfast incentive reimbursement dropped to $650,000 for fiscal year 2010.

This means schools receive less money than originally promised. Schools buy meals, then are reimbursed up to $1.40 per child.

Schools are reimbursed based on the number of meals served, meaning fewer breakfasts served equals less money. The shortage of state funding concerns Jane Fortman, Mansfield City Schools food services director.

"We are $15,000 short of what our district got in 2008-09," Fortman said. "Last year, we were supposed to get three $5,000 payments and only got one $5,000 payment."

The district has not yet received a state reimbursement payment.

Ohio Department of Education Spokesman Scott Blake said the school breakfast program isn’t as widespread as the lunch program, so schools generally get smaller state and federal breakfast reimbursements.

"Schools are continuing to get money from the feds. This year, once we met the lunch match payment, we could use what’s left over for the school breakfast incentive," Blake said. "The breakfast incentive is in addition to the federal money to get more districts involved."

Mansfield schools’ food services department is not supported by the general fund. Fortman said money for staff wages and benefits, food costs and utilities comes from state and federal funds.

"Staffing is based on the number of meals served," she said. "Now that there are less buildings (in the district), there is less staff. We watch closely the number of meals served and staff at each building."

In light of this, more cash-strapped families are turning to schools to provide nutrition, causing an uptick in school breakfast programs.

The annual School Breakfast Scorecard released at year’s end by the Food Research and Action Center shows Ohio schools have increased participation.

The upward trend stems from the economic climate pushing families to apply for free and reduced meals, the federal government advocating for improved nutrition and more schools starting programs.

Fortman said increasing applications for free and reduced meals are evidence of Mansfield’s economic plight. She said more than 100 students at every building eat breakfast.

The district’s breakfast program started more than 20 years ago. Fortman said about 80 percent of students are on free or reduced-price meals. When Fortman started at Mansfield schools 19 years ago, 60 percent of the district’s 6,860 students were on free and reduced meals.

Though enrollment dropped from 3,987 in 2008 to 3,716 so far this school year, the district’s daily breakfast average stayed about the same — 1,816, according to Fortman’s most recent data.

So me school districts in Ohio have implemented a universal breakfast program — meaning all students eat free — if 50 percent of their students qualify for free or reduced meals.

As with the National School Lunch Program, districts receive U.S. Department of Agriculture reimbursements for each meal they serve.

A school building is required to serve breakfast if more than 20 percent of students in the district are eligible for free meals, said Heather Combs of Children’s Hunger Alliance, a statewide nonprofit agency.

For example, schools in Ontario and Lexington are not required to have breakfast programs. In each district, 13 percent of students qualify for free meals.

In 2009, according to Scorecard data, low-income breakfast increased to 10 percent in Ohio, well above the national average of 6.2 percent. Also, 104 schools began offering breakfast.

Madison Local Schools has increased its number of breakfasts served. Sixty-eight percent of the district’s 3,185 students are on free and reduced meals.

As of November 2009, Madison schools served 850 breakfasts a day, said Diane Coleman, food services director since 1993. That’s up from 640 breakfasts last year.

"This year, we served 1,050 more breakfasts a week," she said. "In today’s economy, there are students who are hungry and depend on breakfast every day. We never had our free and reduced (participation) percentage this high before."

South Elementary and the high school have the district’s highest participation rates. The electronic Point of Sale student ID system is one reason.

The POS system started in Madison Comprehensive High School three years ago, and the elementary schools implemented it last year. Coleman said students enter an ID number at the checkout, so no one knows which students get free and reduced meals. The student’s account records what they buy and how many meals they get.

More families also participate because of easier electronic applications and better privacy. Children with household incomes up to 133 percent of the poverty line who participate in Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program are automatically re-enrolled every year.

"We’re trying to target low-income students because there is a need, but we’re trying to lower the stigma and make it available for all students," said Charlie Kozlesky, senior vice president of School and Summer Nutrition for Children’s Hunger Alliance.

Out of Shelby City Schools’ 2,000 students, about half get free or reduced meals.

On average, 416 breakfasts are served every day, compared to 337 last school year.

"Twenty-five years ago, 16 percent of students qualified for the National School Lunch Program," said Richard Hostetler, food service director for Shelby schools. "Now, it’s at 51 percent."

He said Grab ‘n’ Go breakfast bags were introduced at Auburn Elementary School one year ago and the rest of the schools started handing them out this year.

A Grab ‘n’ Go breakfast bag contains three components — such as milk, cold cereal, bagels or breakfast bars — that students can take to class.

Schools also offer kiosk breakfasts — simple breakfast foods like fruit juice, yogurt and milk — between class periods in hallway carts.

In addition to ensuring healthier students, school breakfast programs stretch food dollars for families.

For instance, Madison schools received a $46,000 fresh fruit and vegetable grant from the US DA this year. Coleman said South Elementary School students get free fruit and vegetable snacks twice a week.

Research shows eating breakfast improves grades, class participation and test-taking abilities and reduces behavioral problems.

While the economy reveals concerns about poverty and increasing child hunger, federal data show how much more funding schools can get for breakfast and lunch programs.

The FRAC Scorecard concluded not tapping available federal dollars "is fiscally irresponsible and poor public policy."

Ohio was one of the top 10 states that lost out on federal funds by failing to reach 60 percent breakfast participation.

If 81,734 additional students ate breakfast, the state would have received $18.9 million more for 2008-09 school year.

Furthermore, if the ratio was 60 to 100 students versus the actual 46.7 to 100, 2.5 million more low-income children would have eaten breakfast every day, according to the study.

In 2008-2009, 8.8 million low-income children participated in the School Breakfast Program on an average day, an increase of 520,000 children (or 6.2 percent), the largest increase since the FRAC began tracking participation in 1991.