Graphic: “Since 2007, the proportion of fourth graders eligible for free or reduced-price lunches through the federal government’s school meals program has increased nationwide to 52 percent, from 46 percent…In 2011, 23 states had more than half their fourth graders eligible for subsidized lunches.”

• Related article: Line Grows Long for Free Meals at U.S. Schools
• “The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children each school day. The program was established under the National School Lunch Act, signed by President Harry Truman in 1946.”