Food Services at the School

The survey collected information on whether public elementary schools offered any food services in a cafeteria or lunchroom in 2005, including full school meals, a la carte items (i.e., foods sold separate from school meals), and foods sold at vending machines in the cafeteria or lunchroom. Schools with cafeteria or lunchroom services also reported whether they offered full school meals, including free, reduced-price, and full-price meals under the School Breakfast Program or the National School Lunch Program. In addition, all public schools indicated whether foods were available at vending machines and at school stores or snack bars. Information about the cafeteria food services was combined with information about the availability of foods at vending machines and school stores or snack bars to create a measure of whether there were any food services at the school.¹

Types of Food Services

• Almost all public elementary schools (99 percent) offered some type of food service at the school (figure 1 and table 1). This included foods that were available to students at one or more of the following locations in the school: school cafeteria or lunchroom, vending machine, and school store or snack bar.
• Ninety-eight percent of public elementary schools offered cafeteria or lunchroom food services (figure 1 and table 1). This included school meals, a la carte items, and vending machine foods sold in the cafeteria or lunchroom.
• Ninety-eight percent of public elementary schools provided full school meals to students, including free, reduced-price, and full-price meals under the School Breakfast Program or the National School Lunch Program (figure 1 and table 1).²
• Twenty-three percent of public elementary schools offered vending machine foods for sale, and 35 percent offered foods for sale at school stores or snack bars (figure 1 and table 1).³
• The proportion of public elementary schools that offered any food services at the school, and the proportion that offered three types of food services-cafeteria or lunchroom services, full school meals, and vending machine foods-differed by school characteristics (table 1). For example:
• Large and medium-sized schools were more likely than small schools to offer any food services at the school (100 vs. 96 percent, respectively) (table 1). Differences were also observed for the proportion of schools that offered any food services in the cafeteria or lunchroom and the proportion that offered full school meals.
• City schools were more likely than rural schools to offer cafeteria or lunchroom services and full school meals (table 1). However, a higher proportion of rural schools offered vending machine foods than did schools in other locales.
• Schools with the lowest poverty concentration were less likely than schools with higher poverty concentrations to offer any food services at the school (97 percent vs. 99 and 100 percent, respectively) (table 1). Differences were also observed for the proportion of schools that offered cafeteria or lunchroom services and the percentage that offered full school meals.

Availability of Foods Outside of Full School Meals

The survey collected information on whether foods or beverages were sold separately from full school meals in 2005, and whether foods purchased outside of full school meals were sold to generate funds to support food service operations at the school or district. This variable was derived from question 10 of the survey (i.e., whether the foods that students can buy separately from full school meals were sold to generate funds to support food service operations at the school). A response of "not applicable; no foods or beverages sold separately from full school meals" was coded as "no" for whether students could buy any foods separately from full school meals at the school.⁴

• Most public elementary schools (94 percent) offered foods for sale outside of full school meals (figure 2 and table 2). The proportion of public elementary schools that offered foods for sale outside of full school meals differed by school characteristics. For example, large and medium-sized schools were more likely than small schools to offer foods for sale outside of school meals (95 vs. 89 percent, respectively), and schools located in the Southeast were more likely than those in the West and Central regions to offer any foods for sale outside of school meals.
• Of the 94 percent of public elementary schools that offered foods for sale outside of full school meals, 36 percent indicated that the foods were sold to generate funds to support food service operations at the school or district (figure 2 and table 2). Another 54 percent of the schools reported that the foods were not sold to generate funds, while 10 percent indicated that they did not know the answer to this question.
• The proportion of public elementary schools that sold foods outside of full school meals to generate funds to support food service operations at the school or district differed by school characteristics (table 2). For example, a higher proportion of rural than city schools sold foods to generate funds to support food service operations at the school or district (41 vs. 31 percent).⁵ In addition, schools with the lowest poverty concentration were more likely to sell foods to generate funds than did schools with the two highest categories of poverty concentration (i.e., schools with 50 to 74 percent and 75 percent or more students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch) (table 2).⁶

Top

¹ Thus, food service is used in a broad sense to include cafeteria services (i.e., school meals and a la carte items) and foods sold at vending machines and school stores.
² A small number of cases (six schools in the sample) offered cafeteria services but did not provide full school meals to students in 2005.
³ These measures were derived from question 4 and question 6, which asked about the times when vending machine foods were available to students and when school store or snack bar foods were available to students. Respondents could either choose "never" (and skip to the next question) or they could check one or more response options-at mealtimes, other times during the school day, outside of the school day, and other times. Thus, a response of "never" was coded as "no" for whether the school had foods available at these locations.
⁴ See appendix B (80 KB) for a copy of the questionnaire.
⁵ Estimates for towns were based on small sample sizes and generally had large standard errors. Thus, throughout the report, differences that appear large for towns were often not statistically significant.
⁶ See description of poverty concentration on page 3.