RICHMOND, Va. — Free school breakfast programs are helping drive down chronic absenteeism rates across Virginia, with 32,000 more students now eating breakfast at school since 2023.
Cynthia Atkins has worked in the cafeteria at Holton Elementary on the city’s Northside for 11 years and knows her students well.
“I can tell you know what they need and that they might be hungry, because I don't know when a child has had their last meal. I really don’t,” Atkins said.
The food service worker sees firsthand how important breakfast is for a student.
“I tell the children you have to eat because you cannot learn. You cannot study if you're not eating a breakfast,” she added.
Richmond Public Schools Nutrition Services Director Shannon Ebron said the district was one of the first in Virginia to offer free breakfast through the Community Eligibility Program in 2016.
“It helps them to learn. It helps them to focus. They're ready and they're energized for their day. They're doing well on their tests. They're doing better in school. School meals are a huge part of a student's day,” Ebron said.
Even if a child is late, RPS offers Breakfast After the Bell and will cart in food to the classrooms up until lunch.
“The students rely on these meals every day. We serve all of our meals for free to all of our students, so you just have to show up to the line,” Ebron stated. “We know that sometimes our students don't get all the nutrition that they need in the day, maybe at home or from other sources, but we're here to fill in those gaps.”
According to a new analysis of state data from No Kid Hungry Virginia, an additional 32,000 students are now eating breakfast at school since the start of the Gov. Glenn Youngkin Administration’s ALL in VA plan to address chronic absenteeism in 2023.
The administration allocated more funds to urge school districts to offer free breakfast and encourage students to show up for class.
“School breakfast has been linked to student success and serving breakfast after the bell is anecdotally an effective approach in Virginia, most notably in this report with schools having the highest percentage of economically disadvantaged students,” according to a report on the alternative school breakfast service models.
On average, 388,172 students were connected to school breakfast during the 2024-2025 academic year.
No Kid Hungry Virginia Director Sarah Steely said chronic absenteeism fell to 14.8 percent down from a pandemic-era high of 20.1 percent in 2021-2022.
“Virginia saw some of the largest growth we've ever seen in the last 10 years, just recently, and it did line up with the work that the Youngkin administration did around reducing chronic absenteeism,” Steely said.
Steely said about 1,200 Virginia public schools serve breakfast at no cost to students.
“It's a strategy that is there, but what matters the most is giving breakfast the attention it deserves. Making sure that school breakfast is an intentional part of the school day not just an afterthought,” she added.
At its height in 2022, 28 percent of RPS students were considered chronically absent and has fallen seven percentage points over the last three years, according to data compiled by ReturntoLearnTracker.net.
Henrico saw a 19 percent chronic absenteeism rate in 2022 and has dropped to 14 percent in 2025. Chesterfield sat at 20 percent in 2022 and 16 percent in 2025.
Hanover Schools dropped a percentage point over the last three years from 8 percent in 2022 compared to 7 percent in 2025.
RPS and Henrico County Public Schools are among the top 10 divisions for daily breakfast participation across Virginia.
Fairfax, Prince William County, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Stafford County, Newport News, Loudoun County and Norfolk school districts are also on that list.
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