School lunch includes breakfast and dinner. Over 1 million children are receiving breakfast lunch and dinner at school. Los Angeles is doubling the number of dinners served.
The nation's second largest school district is doubling the number of students served dinner, with an eye toward eventually offering it at every school. It's a growing trend: Nationwide, the number of students served dinner or an after-school snack soared to nearly 1 million last year.
"When kids are hungry, they don't pay attention," said Bennett Kayser, a member of the Los Angeles Unified School District board, which was announcing the expansion Thursday. "This is something that should have started years ago."
Thirteen states and the District of Columbia began offering students dinner as part of a pilot program expanded to all states after the 2010 passage of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. Schools where at least half the students are low-income and qualify for free or reduced-price lunch are reimbursed for each supper by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, at a rate often significantly higher than the cost of the meal.
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