Families will benefit from $18.5 million in cost-of-living measures in next week’s State Budget, with the State Government providing $100 discounts to 2024 public school materials and service charge, while delivering more than a million additional meals through school breakfast programs.

This is the third school year the $100 materials and service charge discount has been applied – bringing the total investment to $36 million over three years.

The schools breakfast program will receive a $6.5 million boost – the largest investment of its kind in the state’s history.

It will see more than 1.4 million meals provided to South Australian children through breakfast programs at schools across the state over the next four years.

The breakfast initiatives are provided free of charge in a range of schools through two organisations, KickStart for Kids and Foodbank SA.

options and other associated activities.

“Demand for our breakfast programs has never been stronger, we are getting enquires from new schools every week. SA schools are providing more breakfast program days each week," said KickStart for Kids CEO and Founder Ian Steele.

“We have seen an increase in the demand for breakfast product by around 70 per cent from last year.

“Many more families are doing it tough due to an increase in the cost of living, this directly impacts family’s ability to provide regular meals, breakfast is the first to go.”

The State Government will further support this initiative with a grant program now available to public schools with the most need.

Funds will be available to support schools establishing things such as community gardens, buying kitchen equipment for student or parent cooking classes that promote healthy and low-cost meal options and other associated activities.

Foodbank SA CEO Greg Pattinson said over the past 12 months 52 per cent of households with children experienced food insecurity at some stage during the year, and that there are now 78,000 children living in severely food insecure households in SA.

“Increased cost of living is by far the single biggest cause of these tragic statistics with the costs of rent, food, fuel and utilities rising sharply”, he said.

“Foodbank is facing similar cost increases for the basic food items that it buys for its school breakfast programs, and so financial support from the South Australian Government is essential to ensure that our children continue to get the start to the day that they need.”

Resources, including training and specialist advice, will also be provided to public schools to address concerns in relation food security, nutrition and body image issues.

Last year the programs delivered support to hundreds of governments and non-government schools across South Australia.

Recent research has shown that one in three South Australian school students skip breakfast sometimes or often, while one in 10 skip breakfast every day.

“At Clovelly Park Primary School we run a regular breakfast program to support our student’s learning in collaboration with KickStart for Kids, with about 60 children getting breakfast five days a week," said Clovelly Park Primary School Principal Terena Pope.

“This support enables us to offer a great range of food options- including cereal, fresh and tinned fruit, bread, butter and spreads, sandwiches, and milk – which ensures the students are ready to learn when the school day begins” she said.

“The breakfast program is an important part of our school as it supports a wide range of families, promotes volunteering and service to others and positively contributes to the health and wellbeing of our students.”

Research also shows that students who skip breakfast are less engaged at school, compared to their peers who eat breakfast every day.

All of the schools currently accessing a breakfast program will continue to do so, however the program will be expanded with priority access to those facing the greatest disadvantage.

The level of service varies school-to-school, with some receiving meals every day and others only once a week, however this funding will be directly applied to public schools experiencing the most need.

The school measures add to the significant cost-of-living relief already announced ahead of the budget, including $254.4 million, in partnership with the Commonwealth, to reduce electricity bills for more than half a million eligible households and small businesses on top of existing concessions.

The rebates will be directly applied to bills of eligible customers relating to 2023-24 electricity usage.