The School Breakfast Program
Apply for free breakfast.
Locate data and resources.
...is a critical, proven way to reduce hunger and improve wellness among school-age children. With the passage of the Healthy Schools Act of 2010, school breakfast is free for all students in D.C. Public Schools and public charter schools. Any public school, charter, or nonprofit private school can participate in the School Breakfast Program. Public or nonprofit private residential child care institutions may also participate.
Breakfast helps children learn, improves attendance, and reduces behavior problems and tardiness. Children who eat breakfast at school – closer to test-taking time – perform better on standardized tests than those who skip breakfast or eat breakfast at home.
Increasing participation in school meals not only reduces childhood hunger, but also improves children’s diets.* Research indicates that school meal participants are less likely to consume “competitive foods” at school, less likely to have nutrient inadequacies, and more likely to consume fruit, vegetables, and milk at breakfast and lunch. Eating breakfast at school results in fewer visits to the school nurse and helps build healthy habits. In addition, school meals may be the most effective tool for combating obesity in poor children.**
*See FRAC's issue brief How Improving Federal Nutrition Program Access and Quality Work Together to Reduce Hunger and Promote Healthy Eating (pdf).
**See Role of the Federal Nutrition Programs in Combating Overweight and Obesity on FRAC's website.
What’s happening with school breakfasts in D.C.?
Learn how the Children of Center City Charter School are benefitting from breakfast and the support of the Walmart Foundation:
D.C. schools are putting the Healthy Schools Act into action.
To comply with the access sections of Title II of the Healthy Schools Act, schools must:
- Serve breakfast free to all DCPS and public charter school students. This provision means that thousands more children will receive a free nutritious morning meal at school. Free breakfast supports families living on very tight budgets who cannot afford to provide good breakfasts at home every day nor the money to buy them at school. And many other families benefit from school breakfast for other reasons.
- Serve free breakfast through “alternative serving models” (pdf) after the school day begins. Elementary schools where 40% or more of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals must serve breakfast in the classroom. And middle and high schools where more than 40% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price meals must serve breakfast either in the classroom, or through another alternative like “grab and go” carts.
These innovative breakfast serving models make breakfast truly accessible – after the school day begins, and in a location, like the classroom, where all students are able to eat. Schools across the country are finding that breakfast in the classroom and other delivery innovations are the best ways to bring the benefits of school breakfast to all students.
Download the new guide What’s Up with Breakfast? A Guide for D.C. Public Charter Schools to Comply with the Healthy Schools Act Breakfast Requirements (pdf).
The Healthy Schools Act Web site's Breakfast/Lunch Access page has more on these requirements and information on funding available to support schools’ implementation.
D.C. Hunger Solutions can help by:
- providing you with a breakfast outreach materials to promote the program to students, teachers, principals, and parents;
- partnering with your school to tailor your breakfast program so that breakfast becomes part of every child’s school day;
- presenting to students, faculty, or staff about the importance of school breakfast.
Help us spread the word:
- Check out new breakfast service models in action at DCPS schools and charter schools.
- Stuff this Parent flyer promoting school breakfast in student backpacks to let parents and guardians know about school breakfast.
- Distribute school meal applications from D.C. Public Schools and make sure that all households have completed them so that schools can get maximum federal reimbursements for school meals and Title I funding. The application is available in multiple languages.
- Download our Guide to Collecting School Meal Applications (pdf).
