Did you know that many students are still not taking advantage of New Jersey’s free or reduced price school breakfast program?

Breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day, especially for growing children. This is why legislators and advocates have worked so hard to ensure that free and reduced-price breakfast is available at school to the state’s underprivileged children. In 2024, Governor Murphy expanded the eligibility range for free and discounted meals through the Federal School Breakfast program and the National School Lunch program to families that have an annual income of up to 224% of the federal poverty level (no more than $67,200 annual household income), which was the second time in just as many years that New Jersey has widened the limits of these qualifications. However, there are still too many students missing this essential start to a healthy, productive school day.

Making a habit of starting the day with a healthy meal can assist students with reaching higher test scores, concentrating better in class, and spending less time out sick or in the nurse’s office, away from their lessons. Ensuring that more students begin their school day with a nutritious breakfast has been a major focus of New Jersey. ACNJ worked with other partners through the  New Jersey Food for Thought Campaign to improve the state’s ranking from 46th in the 2010 fiscal year to 19th nationally in the 2018 fiscal year for its student participation, which led to the state reimbursing districts $105 million in funding. However, despite this positive trend, the school breakfast program is still under-utilized. According to data from the 2024 NJ Kids Count Pocket Guide, in 2023, there was only 58% participation in the free or reduced-price student breakfast program per every 100 kids who also participated in the school’s lunch program. 

In 2019, a state law went into effect requiring schools with at least 70% of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals to serve breakfast during the school day. Again, the eligible yearly income range has expanded since then, and according to Hunger Free NJ, there are 60,000 more kids in the state who are eligible in 2024. Despite this, there are still some major school breakfast underachievers in New Jersey.

One of the reasons for a lack of participation in the breakfast program is when schools serve the meal prior to classes–before many children are able to arrive on campus. This is why several districts in the state have adopted a breakfast after the bell approach, which serves the meal during regular classroom hours. Providing breakfast in class leads to better student participation and a greater chance that a child will have a successful and healthy school day. It’s a popular option that shows real results. According to ACNJ’s 2014 Food for Thought: Annual New Jersey School Breakfast Report, in the first four years of the breakfast after the bell program, the amount of low-income students eating breakfast at school between 2010 and 2014 jumped by 55%.

Stigma associated with needing a free meal and resistance from school leaders and faculty can also be big contributing factors to districts underperforming in the fight against student hunger. Some teachers and administrators might also not want to adopt this model out of a fear of losing instructional time. However, in 2012, the NJ Department of Education and NJ Department of Agriculture joined forces to mandate that schools should count breakfast in the classroom as instructional time, in recognition of how the meal positively impacts the development and performance of students.

Based on this guidance, some teachers have transformed breakfast time into a way to get students warmed up for a day full of learning and engagement. Many give their children tasks, problems to solve or other prompts to work on as they eat their meal and become more alert and awake. This breakfast not only prepares students for their lessons, it’s a part of them, too. For example, as mentioned in Hunger Free NJ’s Food for Thought:

The State of School Breakfast in New Jersey, 2018-19 School Year report, a 4th grade teacher, Zoe Coleman, states that when classroom breakfast was introduced, she gave her students math and science problems to solve as they ate. She said this made the children more energetic and eager to learn, and she didn’t have to send hungry students to the nurse for a snack to get through the morning anymore.

Schools that do not provide breakfast for their students miss out on beneficial financial support. At schools in high-poverty areas, breakfast can be covered by federal per-meal reimbursements, which transfers supplementary funds into school meals programs that could be used to enhance the food quality, rebuild or upgrade cafeterias and kitchens, hire new staff, and acquire better supplies and equipment. For example, the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture says that the high needs schools of the state can receive federal reimbursements of $2.84 per free breakfast and $2.54 for each reduced-price breakfast served in the 2024-2025 year. These funds could be instrumental in combating childhood hunger and even paying for the breakfast program itself.

School superintendents are looked up to as the leaders of their districts, so their understanding and valuing of the benefits of free and reduced-price breakfasts is often the key to making after the bell breakfast programs accessible in your area. Reaching out to your local superintendent with your concern for the needs of children who’d otherwise go to school hungry could make a world of a difference.

From reducing stress on families that struggle to put food on the table to tightening relationships between parents and schools, and most importantly, allowing for less students to learn while hungry, an entire community could benefit from this program. Speak to your district’s superintendent about the after the bell free and reduced-price breakfast program today and help disadvantaged kids gain the energy and nutrition they need and deserve to get the best out of their education. 

For more information, please refer to Hunger Free NJ’s School Meals for All.