Each morning, students across the state start their day with school breakfast. These healthy and delicious meals ensure students are fueled for learning and are set up for success in the classroom. For this year’s National School Breakfast Week, the Iowa Department of Education welcomes Iowa schools to celebrate the importance and impact of school breakfast meals.
National School Breakfast Week is observed during the first week of March each year and celebrates the achievements of the School Breakfast Program. Schools may choose to participate in the School Breakfast Program, a federally assisted meal program, and children at participating schools may qualify for free or reduced price meals. The program serves over 12 million breakfast meals each day nationwide. In Iowa, over 19 million school breakfast meals were served during the 2022-23 school year.
“Serving healthy breakfast options at school remains an innovative and effective way of impacting student success,” said Kala Shipley, Bureau of Nutrition and Health Services chief at the Iowa Department of Education. “The School Breakfast Program allows students to focus on learning and skill development rather than hunger.”
This year’s National School Breakfast Week is themed “Surf’s Up with School Breakfast” and features beach-branded graphics and marketing materials that can be used by individual schools to help engage students and get them excited about school breakfast.
“Students who eat school breakfast are shown to have better attendance and have fewer behavioral concerns,” said Meg Collins, Department education program consultant. “School breakfast is a huge win for both school districts and students and is worth celebrating.”
For more information on National School Breakfast Week, visit these partner resources:
Additional information on Iowa’s School Breakfast Program can be found on the Department’s website.
