Chester County schools offer free breakfast for all students

All Chester County students can enjoy a hot breakfast this school year – for free.

For 2017-18, all Chester County schools will provide students breakfast daily at no charge, the district announced.

“We want to make sure all of our students can benefit from a healthy breakfast,” said Becky Crouch, administrative assistant for the district.

The federal National School Lunch Program offers free- and reduced-priced meals for students who qualify, but Chester is making breakfast free for all students, Crouch said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reimburses school districts for free- and reduced-meal prices.

The Chester County school district is absorbing the costs of meals for students who would normally pay, Crouch said. The district does not yet have an estimate of how much that will be.

Breakfast serving times vary at each school.

“We hope that this will increase participation in our school’s breakfast program where we serve nutritionally balanced breakfasts daily,” the district said. “A healthy breakfast has been shown to improve academic success.”

Non-students and adults who wish to eat breakfast will still need to pay for their meal, Crouch said. Breakfast is $2.20 for adults.

This story was originally published August 22, 2017 at 11:34 AM with the headline "Chester County schools offer free breakfast for all students."