Schools expand free breakfasts for kids in need

Every weekday morning at Northgate Elementary, kids march into the cafeteria for a loud, fun, messy ritual: breakfast. Dozens of youngsters show up before 9 a.m. for pancakes, cinnamon rolls and other goodies.

This year, school administrators and nutrition workers around the state hope cafeterias are even more crowded in the morning. This past session, state legislators allocated $1 million to make Washington the first state in the nation to eliminate the reduced-price category for school breakfast, allowing children who previously qualified for reduced-price breakfasts to eat for free.

The federal meal program, administered by the Department of Agriculture, specifies household-income guidelines under which children can qualify for free school lunches and breakfasts. A family of four must make $2,167 per month or less to qualify for free meals, and $3,084 or less to qualify for reduced-price meals.

A reduced-price lunch is 40 cents; breakfast is 30 cents. Regular meal prices vary by district; in Seattle elementary schools, for example, breakfast is 75 cents and lunch is $1.75.

The Children's Alliance and the Washington School Nutrition Association lobbied state legislators to get rid of the reduced-price category for breakfast and are hoping to eliminate reduced-price lunches in the 2007-08 school year, said Shelly Curtis, food-policy manager for the Children's Alliance.

"Though it seems like a small amount, when you add it up over the course of a school year, it begins to be a barrier if you have a family who's working a minimum-wage job, and paying the heating bills and rent," Curtis said.

Free and reduced-price meals

Students eligible for free meals (statewide): 285,000 (fall 2005)

Students eligible for reduced-price meals (statewide): 89,000 (fall 2005)

Students eligible for free meals (Seattle): 15,335 (June 2006)

Students eligible for reduced-price meals (Seattle): 3,073 (June 2006)

Percentage of eligible students who eat free and reduced-price meals at school (Seattle): 41.5 percent (June 2006)

Sources: state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Seattle Public Schools

School-nutrition officials and children's advocates say too many kids who qualify for the programs don't use them. Statewide, about 32 percent of kids who qualify for free breakfasts eat breakfast at school. In the reduced-price group, only 17 percent do. State officials hope eliminating the reduced-price category will help to close that gap.

The Federal Way School District eliminated reduced-price meals in 1998, allowing all who qualify to eat for free. This school year, Seattle Public Schools eliminated the reduced-price category for lunch. At Northgate Elementary and 11 other Seattle schools where more than 80 percent of children qualify for free or reduced-price meals, cafeterias serve free breakfasts to all students.

Anita Finch, director of nutrition services for Seattle Public Schools, said breakfast helps students in many ways.

"Kids perform better academically, they have fewer behavior problems, and there's just general improved health," when kids eat breakfast, Finch said.

Early reaction has been positive, she added.

"One of my lunch managers called and said that a parent came in and wanted to put some money on her child's account," Finch said. "When the manager told her they would be eating for free, she actually burst into tears of joy."

Eating breakfast is critical to help kids learn, Northgate Principal Ed Jefferson said. "It ensures that all of our kids are ready to go when that bell rings at 9 o'clock."

On a recent morning, half-awake Northgate students lumbered through breakfast, grabbing apple or orange juice, toast and cinnamon rolls. Each child punched a personal code into a keypad at the end of the line. The computer system tracks how many students are eating and discreetly keeps track of who pays and who gets meals free.

Jefferson watched as Northgate students munched away. One offered Jefferson a string cheese before heading off to class.

Brian Kim, 8, said he comes to breakfast "because all the sweet stuff: cinnamon rolls, pancakes, French toast."

His friend, 9-year-old Jordan Bolieu, has simpler tastes: cereal. Breakfast for him is an opportunity to catch up with his friends.

After breakfast, "I can't talk to them until the next recess," Bolieu points out.

In elementary-school time, that's a lifetime away.

Joe Mullin: 206-464-2761 or jmullin@seattletimes.com