A new breakfast program at Washington and Orrington elementary schools will start April 16.

The breakfast consists of either cereal or a bagel with cream cheese, yogurt, milk and juice, to be served before the school day begins. The program is free for students who qualify for free lunch, 15 cents for those who qualify for reduced-price lunches and $1 for all other students.

“It goes without saying that children who are undernourished and trying to learn need a meal,” District 65 school board member Greg Klaiber said. “We hope to receive more federal funding in the future.”

Klaiber said there is a push for more federal funds for a districtwide breakfast program. The program at Washington and Orrington is modeled after the National School Breakfast Program, a federal entitlement program that serves 7.4 million students in 72,000 schools.

During the past 10 years, the program has nearly doubled. Studies by Harvard University and the state of Minnesota have found that students who eat school breakfast have less absences, higher grades and improved behavior. The Tufts University School of Nutrition Science and Policy said children who participated in the National School Breakfast program showed significantly higher standardized achievement test scores than eligible non-participants.

In D65, two other elementary schools, Kingsley and Dewey, have breakfast programs. There are 10 elementary schools (K-6) and two magnet schools (K-8) in the district. Like Kingsley and Dewey, Washington and Orrington plan to have stories read aloud to students during the breakfast period.