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SALT LAKE CITY — While most conversations around school meals are centered around school lunches, the importance of students receiving breakfast at school is often understated.
"I don't think people realize that breakfast is especially critical," said Neil Rickard, child nutrition advocate at Utahns Against Hunger. "Just having breakfast at the start of the school day means that you have that much (more) focus at the start of the day. It means a decrease in behavioral issues, a general improvement in mental health for students as they're working on studying."
School districts across the state helped more students access those much-needed meals — specifically breakfast — throughout the 2021-2022 school year.
In fact, the number of Utah students participating in school breakfast grew at a rate higher than any other state (excluding the District of Columbia), according to a report released last week by the Food Research and Action Center.
The report showed that 323,758 children in Utah regularly received breakfast at school, and 358,233 children received lunch on an average day during the 2021-2022 school year — an increase of 240,012 children for breakfast, and 76,473 for lunch compared to the previous year.
There are also more long-term impacts to students receiving school breakfast, such as diminished dropout rates, Rickard added.
"Utah, historically, has had very low participation in the school breakfast program. ... During the pandemic, that functionally changed for a lot of people. Breakfast was just a part of the equation while these pandemic-era waivers allowing students to get meals at no cost were in place," Rickard said.
National data from the report showed that just over 15.5 million children received breakfast and 29.9 million children received lunch on an average day during the 2021-2022 school year.
These totals are an increase of 1.6 million children (11.2%) for breakfast, and 10.1 million (51.1%) for lunch compared to the previous year and slightly above participation prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rickard said that one reason for Utah's growth in students receiving breakfast is largely due to the availability of meals to students at no cost, due to pandemic-era waivers.
Just prior to the pandemic, the Utah Legislature passed HB222, which aimed to establish alternative breakfast models at schools where high percentages of students qualify for free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch.
Then, at the beginning of the pandemic, Congress gave the U.S. Department of Agriculture the authority to issue nationwide child nutrition waivers through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act with the intent of reducing child hunger by maintaining school meal participation, most importantly the ability to offer free meals to all students.
This year, the pandemic-era waivers aren't available and Utah is already beginning to see the impacts.
I don't think people realize that breakfast is especially critical.
–Neil Rickard, Utahns Against Hunger
"If we wish to maintain these high levels of participation and ensure that children in Utah have the nutrition they need to achieve in school, we need Congress to invest in school nutrition programs," Rickard said in a statement. "Our federal delegation is interested in strengthening Utah families (and) ensuring access to food at school by supporting Healthy School Meals For All would be a concrete way to do just that."
Healthy School Meals For All is a national movement aimed at offering school breakfast and lunch to all students at no charge to families.
Additionally, the Community Eligibility Provision was established by the Department of Agriculture and provides federal funding for meals to schools that have a certain percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals. Rickard noted that there are a number of Utah schools that utilize the provision.
At the end of the day, Rickard said that the best and most-sweeping option would be to find a way to offer free meals to all students at every Utah school.
"We would absolutely support that but I think Utah, probably, the political atmosphere has a little ways to go on that," Rickard said. "As we see other states picking it up and as we see it succeeding in other states — because there are benefits to reap from it — we're optimistic that we can see a lot more support here in Utah, also."
The education and health benefits of participating in school meals range from higher consumption of fruits and vegetables to improved focus and mental health among participating students, and more children participate when breakfasts and lunches are available to them at no cost, according to Utahns Against Hunger.
Providing free meals to students, Rickard said, will allow them to reach their fullest potential in education and in life.
He added that summer meal programs — which are still available at no cost to participating students — will soon be starting up across the Beehive State.
"People need to check with their school districts, just to make sure where their nearest sites are," Rickard said.
