Yesterday’s post told us that Nebraska is ranked 49 out of 51 in the US for school breakfast participation. We know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but despite this, Nebraska continues to fall short in ensuring that all children – especially the 40% of Nebraska students who qualify for free and reduced school meals are ready to learn when school starts.
As of the 2011-12 school year, Nebraska had 471 school districts with 1,249 schools. Despite the fact that school breakfast has been shown to be incredibly beneficial for children, only 677 of the state’s schools, around 54%, served breakfast during the 2011-2012 school year. When you compare the percent of schools that serve breakfast to the 70% of schools that serve lunch, a gap in services becomes obvious.
Many children are able to eat their breakfast at home, but some cannot due to time and financial constraints. LB 834 will ensure that financial barriers to schools serving breakfast through alternative models are addressed and encourage schools to better serve all of their students.
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