The research is indisputable: Kids who eat breakfast grow up to be healthier and perform better in school. They have better brain function, memory and attention and score 17.5% higher on standardized tests than kids who skip the morning meal.
Yet, compared with other states, Illinois schools lag far behind in providing our kids with the most important meal of the day.
Nationally, the total average daily rate for breakfast participation in schools went up by 11.2% in school year 2021-2022 compared with 2020-2021 — but in Illinois it went down by 6.6% over the same time period, according to the Food Research and Action Center. As a result, Illinois ranks 41st in the country when it comes to school breakfast participation. The downward trend is worrying, especially in light of the increased challenges that families have faced over the last three years to put food on the table. We can do better.
The Action Center analysis concludes that nationally, the School Breakfast Program is severely underutilized, with only 52 students participating in breakfast for every 100 who participate in school lunch.
While many Illinois schools offer the school breakfast program, there are barriers to participation among children and families. Sometimes the school bus schedule doesn’t line up with the cafeteria breakfast hours, and children don’t have enough time to eat breakfast. There’s also still a social stigma associated with getting a free school meal. While all students eat lunch at school — whether free or a lunch brought from home — it’s low-income children who are more likely to eat breakfast at school, and some children would rather go hungry than risk stigma from their classmates.
During the pandemic, many Illinois schools successfully implemented alternative ways to provide our children with a nutritious morning meal. Options such as grab-and-go meals that students can pick up on the way to class, or serving breakfast in classrooms, reduce stigma and make breakfast easier to access than a cafeteria meal served before the school day begins.
These “Breakfast After the Bell” models have been shown to increase breakfast participation by 82%. We need to make that creativity and flexibility permanent.
Breakfast is a tool for academic success
Earlier this year, the Illinois House of Representatives passed Breakfast After the Bell legislation to help schools start or expand flexible breakfast programs. This legislation should be passed by the Illinois Senate as well, and then signed into law as soon as possible. The legislation would enable the Illinois State Board of Education to provide schools with modest grants of $7,000 to purchase equipment like kiosks, portable coolers and storage, cited by schools as one of the main obstacles to making the switch from cafeteria meals.
The need is real. One in four households with children (26%) in the Chicago metropolitan area were food insecure in June/July, according to data from the Greater Chicago Food Depository provided by Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, an economist at Northwestern University and member of the Food Depository board. That number jumps to 39% among Black households with children and 29% among Hispanic households with children, compared with 19% among white households.
Every day that a child misses out on a nutritious breakfast hinders their learning and puts them at higher risk of developing health issues. We need to start regarding breakfast as one more tool that our students need to achieve academic success, just as essential as a pencil and notepad. Feeding kids is investing in our future. The time to act is now.
Mark A. Klaisner, Ph.D., is the immediate past president of the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools and current executive director of West 40 Intermediate Service Center No. 2. He is a former teacher and school principal.
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