CURRENT REALITIES IN TEXAS In the 2011-2012 school year, 59.6% of Texas students who ate FRP lunch also ate FRP breakfast. With this percentage, 1,402,157 FRP students ate breakfast daily last year. This was an increase of 38,837 students eating FRP breakfast per day from the 2010-2011 school year of 1,363,320, or 58.4%, students per day.
Poverty Level (FPL) eat for free, while those from families with income between 130185 percent of FPL eat at a reduced price. CHILDREN AT RISK proposes that the Texas Legislature require schools to provide free school breakfast to all interested students in any school wherein student populations of 80% or more live at or below 185% of the federal poverty level. This would eliminate reducedprice and paid breakfast.39
CURRENT LEGISLATION State legislation is an important strategy to ensure that schools participate in the School Breakfast Program. It is particularly important that schools with significant populations of low-income students offer breakfast, an important first step towards guaranteeing that the program is widely available. The state of Texas currently requires any public or open-charter school with 10% or more Free and Reduced-Price eligibility to serve school breakfast [TEX. EDUC. CODE ANN. § 33.901]. Texas does not allocate any state funds towards the School Breakfast Program. Some states, such as Colorado, reimburse schools with state funds in addition to the federal funding provided for each reimbursable meal served.
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Join the Texas Food Policy Roundtable to advocate on behalf of Texans who rely on federal programs like the School Breakfast Program.38
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Under federal law, students from families with income under 130 percent of the Federal
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Encourage Texas legislators to request additional state funding for school meal programs like the School Breakfast Program.
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Join FRAC and CPPP’s efforts in calling for Congress to increase funding for school meals and other child nutrition programs.40
FINANCES USDA-FNS reimbursements make it possible for schools to serve FRP meals to their students daily. States receive reimbursement, per meal, to cover the administrative costs of serving FRP breakfast and lunch. Federal funds are allotted for each state through the Child Nutrition Act of 1966.41 For each student that does not eat breakfast, whether they qualify for a free, reduced-price or paid meal, Texas misses out on additional federal funds, money that could be used to cover costs and spent in the local economy. For the 2011-2012 school year, Texas served 300,082,570 total breakfasts for a state reimbursement of $460,290,681.42 Even with the substantial number, Texas is missing out on additional reimbursement.
If we can conquer space, we can conquer childhood hunger.
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-Buzz Aldrin