Why School Meals? +
School meals improve health during the school day and at home:
- Prevent hunger: Providing breakfast for students at school has been linked with fewer visits to the school nurse, especially in the morning.
- Provide balanced meals: Students who eat school breakfast and lunch are more likely to have their daily recommended nutritional needs met. School meals follow rigorous nutrition standards set by the USDA in order to receive federal reimbursement for the meals. USDA’s MyPlate guidelines include minimum serving sizes and variety for fruits and vegetables, whole grain requirements, and calorie, fat and sodium restrictions.
- Model balanced nutrition: Children who eat school meals not only have improved nutritional health, participating in school meal programs helps students to practice healthy eating habits.
- Encourage food exploration: Introducing children to new foods gives them the opportunity to develop their palettes and encourages them to try new things.
- Reduce risk of health problems: School meals help reduce the risk for physical, mental, and emotional health problems.
- According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, school meals are the single healthiest and most equitable source of quality nutrition for children.
School meals improve learning:
- Help kids stay focused on the task at hand: School meals improve students’ ability to focus and reduce behavioral problems.
- Reduce missed class time: Access to meals at school improves students' attendance and reduces tardiness.
- Providing the nutritional foundation: School meal programs provide students with a nutritional foundation that has been shown to improve student test scores and academic performance.
For more information on the benefits of school meals to nutrition and learning, check out “School Meals are Essential for Student Health and Learning,” a research brief from the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC).
Improving Enrollment in Free & Reduced Price Meals +
Free & Reduced Price Meals in School
Schools are reimbursed by the USDA at annually fixed rates for each meal they serve to students. The reimbursement rate for each meal depends upon the household income level of the child who receives it. Children living in households with income at or below 130% of the federal poverty line are eligible for free school meals, and children living in households with income between 130% and 185% of the federal poverty line are eligible for reduced-price school meals. In Vermont, we have eliminated the cost to families for reduced-price meals, with the State reimbursing schools for this portion instead. Therefore, all children from households at or below 185% of the poverty level eat school meals for free. Current eligibility guidelines can be found on the Agency of Education website.
In schools not operating a universal meal program, families must complete a Free and Reduced-Price Meal Application in order to enroll their children in free school meals each year, disclosing the members of their household and the amount and sources of their income. Many Vermont school districts have started offering an online application to make submitting easier for families. More information on how to submit a school meal application and links to online applications is available from the Agency of Education.
Children living in households receiving 3SquaresVT or Reach-Up benefits are directly eligible to receive free school meals, as are children who are homeless, part of migrant families, in foster care, or enrolled in Head Start preschool programs.
Improving Enrollment in Free and Reduced-Price Meals
Conducting outreach to enroll all eligible students in your free school meal program is good for students, schools, and communities.
When more students in your school qualify for free school meals:
- You maximize your meal programs federal reimbursement, providing more funding to reinvest in Vermont farms and food producers
- Student meal program debt is reduced
- Title I funding increases
- You may qualify for additional programs to provide free afterschool and summer meals to all students
Run a school meal application campaign
Encouraging all families to complete and submit a school meal application every year is important for student health, school culture, and meal program viability.
When all households return the applications, this reduces stigma for low-income students and reaches families who mistakenly think they are not eligible. Invite families to support your school by completing and returning their meal applications. Qualifying for free school meals doesn’t mean that students are required to eat school breakfast and lunch (although school meals are healthy and delicious!), but it does help your school qualify for more funding to keep kids well-nourished and well-supported.
Hunger Free Vermont has developed an extensive suite of resources to promote school meal applications and communicate clearly with families. Use our School Meal Application Campaign Toolkit resources to plan, design, and implement your own meal application outreach!
Reach out to our child nutrition team for help building your application campaign today!
Universal School Meals +
Universal School Meals means all students eat school meals for free. This allows the school to build the meal program into the overall curriculum, creating a learning lab for healthy eating and a mealtime experience where every kid is equal and enjoys their meals together. Studies show that universal school meal programs increase participation, leading to better student health and learning and a stronger and more sustainable school meal program. When participation is up, school meal programs have more resources to invest in even higher quality food, including buying local. Universal free school meals models are good for students, good for schools, and good for Vermont's local economy.
Universal School Meals:
- Reduces student hunger and improves nutrition.
- No application means you reach all low-income students
- No stigma means more low-income students choose to eat
- Helps you serve better meals.
- Free up funds for buying fresh and local foods
- Free up staff time for more scratch cooking
- Improves your bottom line.
- Eliminate unpaid student meal debt
- Increased participation means lower per-plate costs
- Less staff time spent on administration
Options for Implementing a Universal School Meals Model
Community Eligibility Provision (CEP)
CEP is available as an option to provide universal school meals in schools or groups of schools where 40% or more of enrolled students are directly certified for free school meals. Under CEP, the higher the percentage of directly certified students, the higher the reimbursement provided by USDA.
- What is Direct Certification?
Students who are directly certified for free meals include:
- Children in households receiving 3SquaresVT or Reach Up
- Children in state-placed foster care
- Enrolled in the Migrant Education Program
- Homeless children
- Enrolled in Head Start,
Conducting outreach to families about 3SquaresVT is a great way to increase your school’s direct certification rate and ensure food access for students at home.
Provision 2
This long-standing provision is available to any school for providing breakfast, lunch, or both at no charge. Reimbursement is based on the percentage of meals served in each category (free, reduced-price, & full pay) at the time the school enrolls.
Provision 2 is a 4-year program where you collect meal applications in the first year to set claiming percentages of meals served to free, reduced-price, and paid eligible students, which you use to determine federal reimbursements in the subsequent years of the program. Meals are served free to all students during all four years. After completing a Provision 2 cycle, you may be eligible to operate a streamlined base year in a new cycle without having to collect new meal applications. When you operate Provision 2, it is essential to effectively collect meal applications during the base year to ensure the program can be successful for years to come. You should plan and run a School Meal Application campaign. See the “Improving Enrollment” section to learn how!
Reach out to our child nutrition team to learn more about how you could adopt Universal School Meals in your school!
Expanding School Breakfast with Breakfast After the Bell +
Every child needs a healthy breakfast to start their day ready to learn, but many children arrive at school without eating breakfast or after eating something quick that won’t last them until lunchtime. The School Breakfast Program (SBP) has been shown to improve academic performance and health as it provides children with a nutritious meal to start their day. In addition, all parents can appreciate the convenience and peace of mind knowing their children will receive a healthy breakfast at school.
The research is clear; getting a balanced breakfast helps students succeed in the classroom and at home.
School Breakfast Supports Learning.
- Students do better academically, including on standardized tests
- Students are more alert and attentive
- Students have fewer behavior problems
- Students are less likely to be absent, tardy or suspended
School Breakfast Improves Nutrition and Health
- Students are less likely to end up in the nurse’s office complaining of stomach aches or headaches
- Students have a healthier diet that includes more fruit
- Students who eat a well-balanced breakfast daily have a decreased risk for chronic and diet-related diseases
- Breakfast programs improve food access at home, improving diets and health
To learn more about the benefits of school breakfast check out these helpful research briefs from the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC).
Increasing Participation in School Breakfast
The most effective way to increase breakfast participation and help your students succeed is by moving Breakfast After the Bell. Moving breakfast service after the official start to the school day means that no student has to miss out on breakfast because they can’t get to school early enough, or because they don’t want to feel stigma or peer pressure from their classmates because they need to go to the cafeteria and get breakfast in the morning. The Vermont State Legislature and the Agency of Education agree, school breakfast eaten in the classroom counts as part of instructional time for children.
Breakfast After the Bell can look different depending on how it fits into your schedule, but the best outcomes involve students eating in their classrooms with their peers. Here are some service models that could work for you:
- Breakfast in the Classroom: Food is delivered to the classrooms for all students. Breakfasts can be ordered ahead– like the day before when taking attendance. Breakfast in the Classroom is the most effective way to serve more students and often leads to the largest increases in breakfast participation.
- Grab and Go: Students pick up their breakfasts in the cafeteria on their way to homeroom or are excused as classes to go to the cafeteria and pick up their breakfasts and bring them back to the classroom to eat during homeroom or first period.
- Breakfast after First Period: Breakfast is served to students and eaten in the cafeteria after the students start their day.
- Second Chance Breakfast: Can’t make anything else work? Consider making breakfast available for kids to pick up during their first break in the day. This way, no one misses out on breakfast because they were late getting to school or weren't hungry first thing in the morning. You can also offer second chance breakfasts for kids along with other Breakfast After the Bell models.
Other ways to increase breakfast participation:
- Offer choices to students. Offering several entrée, fruit, and juice options will increase participation. You can have students sign up for their choices the day before or by the week to help reduce food waste. Consider changing options seasonally or more frequently so that kids don’t get bored with the choices offered!
- Offer quick and convenient choices. Take advantage of “Offer Vs. Serve” by creating menu items that include two or three components in one menu item like a breakfast sandwich/burrito or yogurt parfait with granola and fruit. This way, students who want to move through the line quickly or who are running late can grab a meal quickly and easily.
- Consider your timing and location of breakfast. Are some classrooms too far from the cafeteria? You could apply for an equipment grant through the State or New England Dairy’s Fuel Up To Play 60 initiative to purchase a breakfast cart to offer breakfast in the hallway or other more convenient location for students.
- Consider if Provision 2 breakfast could be right for your school. Universal breakfast after the bell is the best way to get nearly every student eating breakfast every morning! Check out the Universal School Meals section on this page to learn more!
- Get your students Involved. You can survey your students about menu options you would like to offer and then publicize your results on your menu or in the cafeteria. You can also conduct taste tests of new foods and/or use themes, contests, or other fun initiatives to make breakfast more exciting.
- Get parents and your community involved and excited about breakfast. Invite parents, grandparents, or a local ‘celebrity’ to eat breakfast with students–like your school or district administrators, a firefighter, or local sports star.
Reach out to our child nutrition team for help expanding your breakfast program!
