Harrisburg, PA – Today, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) announced that $1.2 million in Pennsylvania School Breakfast Expansion (SBE) Grant funding has been awarded to 164 schools to improve the nutritional quality of school breakfast meals and increase student participation in the federal School Breakfast Program.
“It’s not only critical that students start their day with a meal—it’s equally important that the meal they choose is healthy and nutritious,” said Secretary of Education Dr. Khalid N. Mumin.“Pennsylvania School Breakfast Expansion grants encourage schools to ‘think outside the cereal box’ and provide meals that are easy to access and chockfull of nutritional value.”
The lists of awarded schools can be found on the Project PA website.
Through a collaboration with Penn State University (Project PA), PDE’s Bureau of Food and Nutrition awarded schools that are using strategies to expand breakfast, such as implementing alternative breakfast service methods to make breakfast more accessible to students and making menu changes to improve the quality and nutrition of breakfast meals. Grant funds may be used to purchase mobile carts, insulated bags, kitchen equipment, and other supplies to make healthy, appealing breakfast foods that students will enjoy.
Funds for this project were provided through a USDA School Breakfast Expansion Grant. Pennsylvania was one of three states awarded the funding through a competitive process. To qualify, schools must participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and meet USDA requirements for serving at least 40% of NSLP lunches to students eligible to receive free or reduced-price meals. Priority was given to qualifying schools in which at least 75% of students were eligible for free or reduced-price meals.
The Shapiro Administration is committed to ensuring that all children and students have access to healthy meals all year long. That’s why Governor Shapiro delivered free breakfast for Pennsylvania’s 1.7 million students last year. The 2024-25 budget builds on that progress with a $16.7 million increase to continue the universal free breakfast program, making sure students have access to healthy meals to start their day on the right foot, and making sure no kid goes hungry during the summer by funding the summer food service program.
Earlier this year, the Shapiro Administration launched the Governor’s School Breakfast Challenge, a three-month program to encourage increased participation in the Universal Free Breakfast Program and recognize schools for increasing breakfast participation while implementing sustainable changes that incorporate more nutritious and local foods in their meal offerings. Thirty-seven schools successfully completed the Challenge.
Over the past school year, 91.4 million breakfast meals were served in schools, an increase of nearly 10 million since the 2022-23 school year. More than 7 million of those breakfasts were served to students at-risk for hunger or from low-income families.
School breakfast has been shown to improve students’ academic performance, reduce behavioral problems, improve children’s diets, and play a critical role in addressing food insecurity. Offering breakfast after the bell through alternative service methods such as Breakfast in the Classroom, Grab ‘n Go Breakfast, and Second Chance Breakfast make breakfast more convenient for students, reduce the stigma sometimes associated with participation, and result in more students eating a healthy breakfast.