Exploring factors associated with free and reduced-price lunch participation in Missouri school districts

Abstract

Participation in school meal programs is critical for meeting the most vulnerable children's daily food requirements while allowing School Food Authorities to get reimbursed for the meal provided and thus continue to run the program in their local entities. The analysis of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education data during the last decade revealed a 10.3% in the number of reimbursable lunches served in Missouri, with a lower participation level of eligible students from southern lower-income counties compared to Northern counties during the 2018-2019 school year. Previous studies on school lunch participation have shown that students' socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics, the school's geographical location, and policies implemented at the school, state, or federal level affect students' participation in the program. This research examines the extent to which school districts' place-based variables such as geographical location, implementation of Community Eligibility Provision, as well as socio-economic and demographic variables (proportion of children in poverty, household income, school district size, age, race, gender, household head marital status and English proficiency) influence school districts' levels of participation in Free or Reduced-price lunch in Missouri. To assess the significance of the association of school districts' place-based characteristics, a Generalized linear model was estimated based on cross-sectional data of Free and Reduced-price lunch from the 2018-2019 school year, and the five-year estimates of socio-economic and demographic (2013-2017 American Community Survey data). The findings suggest that economic and demographic factors such as household income, children poverty, school district size, age, and the proportions of single female-headed households and non-English proficient households significantly influenced school districts' rates of participating in Free or Reduced-price lunch participation in Missouri. However, the school district level of analysis hindered observing the effects of other variables that may be significant at a lower scale of analysis, especially gender and race. An increase of the sampling frame and the use longitudinal data will help better capture the association of school districts' demographic predictors with Free and Reduced-price lunch participation. With the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent school closure, future studies can also explore the effects of this public health issue on Free and Reduced-price lunch participation.