School Lunch and Breakfast Participation: A Snapshot of Recent Trends. CRS Report R48515, Version 4

Abstract

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP) provide federal funding for school lunches and breakfasts served to nearly 30 million children daily in close to 94,000 schools. Because federal spending on NSLP and SBP depends in part on student participation in school meals, it may be of interest to Congress to examine participation trends. In addition, policymakers may be interested in the number of children receiving free, reduced-price, and paid meals and whether eligible children are receiving the free and reduced-price meals for which they qualify. This report focuses primarily on the years since the most recent child nutrition reauthorization act, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-296). The report examines the shifts in program participants by category (free, reduced-price, paid) in recent years, including the shift to increased free meals and universal free meals policies. It also looks at changes in school adoption of NSLP and SBP. Finally, the report examines some characteristics of school meals participants, such as their household income levels, grade levels, and racial/ethnic backgrounds. State-level differences are highlighted when available. However, the report generally does not examine differences at the school or school district level, such as school/district size, resources, or urbanicity (though some data are presented on public versus private schools). While this report provides descriptive statistics on school meals participation and discusses changes in federal policy as they relate to school meals participation, it does not provide a causal analysis of why changes occurred.