Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, today I join Senator Kohl in introducing the Student Breakfast and Education Improvement Act as part of my continued efforts to improve our nation’s schools. I am pleased to be working with the senior Senator from Wisconsin, who has been a longtime leader in this area. As far back as 1999, he has sponsored legislation to support breakfast programs, and he has continued his support through his work on the Agriculture Appropriations Committee since then.

One often overlooked part of student classroom performance is nutrition and hunger, which can have a tremendous impact on students. Mr. President, I know many of my colleagues share my support for school programs that help alleviate hunger for the most in-need students, such as the Free and Reduced Price Lunch Program, as well as those programs that provide healthier food, such as the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack and Farm-to-Cafeteria programs.

I’m sure that I am not the only member of this body who grew up hearing that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. When I talk to my colleagues and constituents about our proposal and the importance of breakfast and learning, it is not a hard sell. People understand immediately why this issue matters.

Unfortunately, Mr. President, too many children go hungry and too many parents have to choose between giving their children lunch or breakfast, even if they get the help of reduced price meals.

The Student Breakfast and Education Improvement Act would provide grants for schools wishing to begin or expand universal school breakfast programs. Studies show that kids who eat breakfast perform better in school and on tests, and they tend to be less disruptive to the class, and I have heard many stories from teachers, school nurses, and other school officials over the years to confirm this. In fact, last year in my home state of Wisconsin, with the support of Senator Kohl, the Milwaukee Public Schools worked with the Hunger Task Force to implement universal school breakfast programs in more than 60 schools. This program, which has expanded in its second year, has proven popular with students, teachers, and parents.

Mr. President, we are set to debate the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) later this year. NCLB was the 2002 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. NCLB set the important goal of closing the achievement gap that exists in our nation’s schools. I disagree with some of the methods that NCLB employs, including relying primarily on high-stakes standardized tests to measure students and schools, but I strongly agree that the achievement gap needs to be closed. The latest scores from the National Assessment on Educational Progress (NAEP) were released last week and the scores show we have a very long way to go before we close that achievement gap in many states, including in my state of Wisconsin.

There are a variety of education reforms that need to be pursued at the federal, state, and local level in order to close the achievement gap. One step Congress can take is to support programs to comprehensively address the needs of children, including their nutrition, health, and social needs. Our Student Breakfast and Education Improvement Act is legislation that is designed to help address some of those needs. Too many students in some of our nation’s most disadvantaged schools walk into school in the morning hungry, or eat junk food for their breakfast. By working to provide these students with access to a nutritious breakfast, we are telling these students that we value them and that we want to help them achieve all that they can in school. Much more needs to be done to address other needs of our students, but this bill is a step in the right direction.

Our legislation would target the schools most in need -- those with 65% or more of students eligible for the free and reduced price lunch program -- with the funds necessary to implement a universal free breakfast program. The grants, which could be used in a number of ways, aim to help schools overcome the numerous barriers to creating a universal school breakfast program. In fiscal year 2006, 10 million more students participated in free and reduced price lunch than breakfast. This disparity is troubling to me and many others.

Our bill would work with existing meal programs, not replace them. Provision 2 of Section 11(a)(1) of the National School Lunch Act allows schools to establish their free and reduced meal rates for a 4 year period if they serve all meals at no charge. The combination of not having to collect free and reduced price information from students annually, and not having to collect daily meal money from students, results in significant administrative savings. While schools participating under Provision 2 must cover the lost revenue from the reduced and full price meal costs, for the high-needs schools such as those targeted by this program, the typically higher participation rate also means the school can benefit from some economies of scale and receive a better price for the food. The grants this bill would provide would help schools make the initial investments needed to establish a universal breakfast program and make up for the lost revenue.

Some universal breakfast programs, like the one I mentioned in Milwaukee, have demonstrated that universal free breakfast programs create an economy of scale that actually makes the cost per student lower. The Milwaukee program served breakfast in the classroom, which, according to teachers and others involved, further improved the economy of the program, as well as the positive impact of breakfast on students’ attention.

Mr. President, while our bill has some preferences, including a target for the poorest schools, it is important to note that it has tremendous flexibility for the states and school districts. Schools will be able to tailor their universal breakfast programs to the needs of their own students. It also gives schools the option of purchasing locally grown foods and linking with local farmers, which provide excellent opportunities for nutrition lessons and can even be incorporated into other subjects such as science and math.

This bill is just a start; much more should be done to increase participation in breakfast programs and provide schools with the ability and resources to design programs that address the needs of their students and communities. Our bill does not intend to replace broader efforts, but rather to provide some immediate assistance for the schools most in need. Furthermore, by including a reporting requirement and encouraging researchers to study the effectiveness of the funded programs in improving student learning, this legislation would provide useful evidence about the need for broader investment and how to ensure those resources are best spent.

I would like to thank Senators Tester, Sanders, Kerry, Durbin, Obama, Bingaman, and Domenici for their support for this legislation. The Student Breakfast and Education Improvement Act is also supported by the Hunger Task Force, Community Food Security Coalition, the School Social Work Association of America and the Wisconsin School Social Workers Association. I look forward to working with my colleagues to provide breakfast to more in-need students.

I yield the floor.