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Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children

School Lunch - Students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch in Pennsylvania

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Why This Indicator Matters

Across the United States, millions of children from low-income families receive either free or reduced-price lunches at school.[1] Children whose families have incomes at or below 130% of the poverty level, receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), or receive food stamps are eligible for free lunches. Children from families with incomes between 130% and 185% of the poverty level are eligible for reduced-price lunches. Schools commonly provide nutritional food to these low-income students through reimbursement from federal school meal programs such as the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP).[2] Having access to meals while at school is not only critical to students’ health and well-being, but also ensures that they have the nutrition needed throughout the day to learn.[3] In fact, research suggests that students who participate in school meal programs have greater food security and consume more whole grains, milk, fruits, and vegetables.[4] Studies have also associated healthy school meals with numerous other positive student outcomes, including improvements in academic performance, school attendance, body mass index (BMI), and family finances.[5]

There has been a steady increase in both the number and proportion of children eligible for free and reduced lunches over the past decade in Pennsylvania. This is likely due to the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which was established with the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. The CEP offers public elementary and secondary schools with high proportions of disadvantaged students a more efficient alternative for enrolling in federally-funded meal plans.[6] Schools with at least 40% of the student population at or below the national poverty level are eligible for the CEP, allowing all students to eat for free without having to individually apply for any meal programs.

[1] Pennsylvania Department of Education. (2022). National School Lunch Program. https://www.education.pa.gov/Teachers%20-%20Administrators/Food-Nutrition/programs/Pages/National-School-Lunch-Program.aspx

[2] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). CDC Healthy Schools: School Meals. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/npao/schoolmeals.htm

[3] Food Research & Action Center. (2022). Benefits of School Lunch. https://frac.org/programs/national-school-lunch-program/benefits-school-lunch

[4] Kinderknecht, K., Harris, C., & Jones-Smith, J. (2020). Association of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act with Dietary Quality Among Children in the US National School Lunch Program. Journal of the American Medical Journal (JAMA), 324(4), 359-368. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.9517

[5] Healthy Eating Research. (2021). Key Findings on the Benefits of Healthy School Lunch Meals for All. https://healthyeatingresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/HER_UniversalSchoolMeals_Infograpic_07022021-1-1.pdf

[6] Pennsylvania Department of Education. (2022). Community Eligibility Provision. https://www.education.pa.gov/Teachers%20-%20Administrators/Food-Nutrition/Resources/Pages/Community-Eligibility-Provision.aspx

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School Lunch - Students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch

Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children from datacenter.kidscount.org

Data Provided By
Note: Non-consecutive years appear adjacent in the trend line
because one or more years have been deselected.

Definitions: Children from families with incomes at or below 130% of the poverty level, receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or receiving food stamp benefits are eligible for free lunches. Children in families whose income is between 130% and 185% of the poverty level are eligible for reduced price lunches.

Data Source: Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children’s analysis of data provided by Pennsylvania Department of Education, Division of Food and Nutrition, National School Lunch Program - Approved Free and Reduced Applications by School Building.

Footnotes: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many LEAs are operating under the Seamless Summer Option (SSO) or Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). As such, the 2020-2021 data will not be available.

Updated November 2021.