As this week is National School Breakfast Week,
New Jersey Agriculture Secretary Charles M. Kuperus
is encouraging students to start the day off right
by eating a healthy breakfast.
“Children feel better about themselves and
perform better in the classroom when they fuel up
with a healthy breakfast,” Kuperus said. “Mornings
can be hectic for families, but the school breakfast
program assures parents that their children will
have the option of eating a healthy meal when they
get to school.”
Currently, 1,243 schools across the state offer
the federal school breakfast program, which is administered
by the Department of Agriculture.
However, Governor James E. McGreevey’s proposed
budget provides funding to expand the program to
an additional 318 schools beginning in September
2004.
The state currently contributes $1.5 million to
the $24 million program. The governor’s proposed
budget allocates an additional $1.3 million, bringing
the state’s funding share to $2.8 million.
The remainder of the funding is provided by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
For every breakfast served, the state contributes
just 10 cents.
The school breakfast program began as a pilot project
in 1966, and was made permanent in 1975. USDA standards
require a school breakfast to meet the U.S. Dietary
Guidelines for Americans and include four servings
of food: milk, a fruit or a vegetable, and two servings
of bread or cereal, or two servings of protein-rich
food.
National School Breakfast Week is designed to help
raise awareness of and garner support for the role
that school foodservice and nutrition programs play
in the lives of America’s children. For more
information please see the attached op-ed by Secretary
Kuperus or visit http://www.asfsa.org/nsbw/ . |
