Eleven Fresno County schools serving 4,436 students are not offering their low-income students a healthy school breakfast, despite having access to money for that very purpose, according to a new report from California Food Policy Advocates, which is a San Francisco organization that promotes nutrition among low-income families.

The Valley's education leaders should not allow that to continue.

Six of those schools are categorized as having "severe need," because the size of their low-income student enrollment. "All students, regardless of their location or their family income, should be able to start the day well-nourished and ready to learn," said Kumar Chandran, author of the report. "Schools with large populations of low-income children, such as these 'severe need' schools, have a special responsibility to offer breakfast."

The people who specialize in fighting hunger say the number of poor children who eat lunch at school should be about the same as those who eat breakfast, but locally and statewide, we are far from it. . In Fresno County, 42.5 students eat a school breakfast of every 100 children eating lunch - making it 49th of the state's 56 counties. Our schools serve low-income children 42,750 school breakfasts each day, yet 92,549 low income children get lunch at school each day.

For once, this is not a money issue for the schools. Because the state receives federal reimbursement for each breakfast served, Fresno County would earn up to $12,411,933 in federal reimbursement. "Given the many benefits of breakfast, we must not turn away these valuable resources," said Mr. Chandran.

The report carries advice on how to fix the situaiton. "There are actions we all can and should take to feed hungry minds in California - responsibility is shared by us all," said Chandran.