School Breakfast

Decades of research shows that eating school breakfast has a multitude of benefits for children. Children from low-income households are more likely to experience hunger and food insecurity. School-based nutrition programs provide an important source of nutrition for children’s growth and development, as well as their academic success.

The School Breakfast Program (SBP) is available to all public schools, nonprofit private schools, and residential child care institutions. Through the SBP, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides federal funding for each breakfast served in a participating institution. The Pennsylvania Department of Education is the state-level administrator of the SBP.

Any student at a school that participates in the SBP can receive breakfast. That student’s household income determines how much the federal government pays and how much the student pays per breakfast*.

• Children from households with incomes at or below 130 percent of the Federal Poverty Line (FPL) are eligible for free breakfast.
• Children with household incomes that fall between 130 and 185 percent of the FPL qualify for reduced-price breakfast. Those students pay 30 cents per breakfast.
• Children with household incomes above 185 percent of the FPL pay the price of the breakfast set by the school.

*See chart below fact sheet list 

The Coalition has developed School Breakfast Fact Sheets for every county in Pennsylvania. Each fact sheet provides information to show how well counties are serving students who qualify for free or reduced price (FRP) breakfast. To measure each county's success, we compared how many students receiving FRP lunch also received FRP breakfast. We call this the Breakfast to Lunch ratio.