NEW YORK — America's schools are no longer just a place for students to learn their ABCs — they are also increasingly where children eat their three squares.
The classroom has become a dining room as more children attending public schools live in poverty. More than half of students in public schools — 51 percent — were in low-income families in 2013, according to a study by the Southern Education Foundation.
The number of low-income children in public schools has been persistent and steadily rising over the past several decades. In 1989, 32 percent of children in public schools lived in poverty, the foundation said.
Such a stark trend has meant more schools are feeding children when they can't get enough to eat at home. More schools provide not just breakfast and lunch but also dinner.
Others are opening food pantries in converted classrooms or closets. It's common for teachers and counselors to keep crackers, granola bars and other goodies in their desks for hungry students.
Nationwide, 1 in 5 households with children are considered "food insecure," which means people in the household are at risk of going hungry or missing meals or don't know where their next meal is coming from.
"There is a need out there," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. "In some areas, kids do not get the support at home they need to get nutritious meals."
Tackling the problem
During the 2008 presidential campaign, candidate Barack Obama said he would set a goal of ending childhood hunger by this year. He pushed for the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, which Congress passed in 2010 with support from both parties.
The act expanded the number of children eligible for free and reduced-price lunch, increased the federal reimbursement rate for school lunches and expanded the after-school meal program. It became one of the administration's primary means to fight childhood hunger.
In March, the Agriculture Department announced $27 million in grants to five states that are trying to reduce childhood hunger.
One of the pilot programs, in Virginia, will test the effect of providing three meals a day to students in a select number of schools in Richmond and in the southwestern part of the state. The program will also provide food to poor children when school is out on the weekends and during school breaks.
In Virginia, 1 in 6 children is at risk of hunger, said first lady Dorothy McAuliffe, whose office is overseeing the anti-hunger efforts. She said schools are the obvious place to end hunger in children because that is where they spend their days.
Dinner now on menu
The school lunch program has grown steadily since 1969, when the USDA began keeping track. Last year, a record 11.52 million children received free or reduced-price breakfast, and a record 21.7 million received free or reduced-price lunch.
Now, dinner is on the menu.
The number of dinners served in schools is growing, too, said Jim Weill, president of the nonprofit Food Research and Action Center, which lobbies for government policies to reduce hunger.
"It is the last frontier" in meeting the nutrition needs of children, Weill said.
A school can serve dinner if at least half of the children in its attendance area are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
In the Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Maryland, where a third of students overall are eligible, 30 of the district's 119 public schools serve dinner, said Jodi Risse, supervisor of the food and nutrition services.
"We were hesitant at first," Risse said, because school officials were not sure of the extent of the need or the logistics of how and when to offer dinner.