School Breakfast State/Local Data Report Toolkit

FRAC has created a School Breakfast Scorecard Data Tool to analyze data for a state or local level report on the school breakfast participation. The Data Tool will automatically:

  • Calculate the number of low-income children receiving school breakfast for every 100 receiving school lunch in each school or district;
  • Rank the schools or districts based on the school breakfast ratio; and
  • Calculate the dollars being lost by schools or districts due to low participation.

While we’ve tried to make the tool easy to use, it is important to know what data you need in order to begin. Each state is different, so working with state officials to get the data in a simple to use format may be a challenge.

Download:

SBP report data tool
(save this Excel file before entering data)

Sample State reports

SBP Report Data: What you need to crunch the numbers

  • An Excel or Similar File – you must be able to open the file and copy the data into the Tool which is an Excel spreadsheet.
  • Data on Just Public School Districts – not data on private schools, religious schools, or alternate programs (like correctional facilities); this data will make your file too unwieldy.
  • Total Breakfasts Served by Category – the total number of breakfasts served during the school year (September to May) by fee category: Free, Reduced-Price, Paid. If your state is only able to give you the data broken out by month, you will have to add the months together to get a total by category.
  • Total Lunches Served by Category - the total number of lunches served during the school year (September to May) by fee category: Free, Reduced-Price, Paid. If your state is only able to give you the data broken out by month, you will have to add the months together to get a total by category.
  • Days of Service for Breakfast – the total number of days during the school year breakfast was served.
  • Days of Service for Lunch – the total number of days during the school year lunch was served.

A state or local report on breakfast participation among low-income students can be an effective tool for promoting expansion on the local level. Local reports compare school districts’ free and reduced-price breakfast and lunch participation, and calculate the federal dollars lost by not serving more low-income students. Advocates can use this report to identify which districts are effectively reaching low-income students with breakfast, and which are not.

FRAC publishes its annual School Breakfast Scorecard to document the current state of the program at the state and national level, as well as to promote successful initiatives to increase participation. By comparing school breakfast participation in the states as well as nationally, and by detailing progress on related school meals policy issues, the Scorecard is an effective tool for getting school breakfast to more children.