I'd looked up and read a few articles on the topic whilst AFK after reading GP comment above. Among those: TIME Magazine, "School Lunch in America: An Abbrevi

I'd looked up and read a few articles on the topic whilst AFK after reading GP comment above. Among those: TIME Magazine, "School Lunch in America: An Abbreviated History" <https://time.com/4496771/school-lunch-history/ https://time.com/4496771/school-lunch-history/> Wikipedia, "School meal programs in the United States" <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_meal_programs_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_meal_programs_in_the_Un...> PBS, "The History of School Lunch" <https://www.pbs.org/food/stories/history-school-lunch https://www.pbs.org/food/stories/history-school-lunch> And a 1971 PDF from the US Department of Agriculture (Dept. Ed. hadn't yet been created), "History of the National School Lunch Program" <https://www.fns.usda.gov/nslp/program-history https://www.fns.usda.gov/nslp/program-history> [PDF] icegreentea2's summary is brief but accurate. There was some earlier Progressive Era (~1890--1915) work largely at the city level (Boston and Phladelphia), and through volunteers and charities. The Great Depression emphasized the scope of the problem, and WWII raised it to a level of national security (under-fed, malnourished, and poorly-educated children cannot grow to defend the country). The period also parallels growth of secondary (high-school) education from a small fraction of children (~6% of 18-year olds claimed a high school diploma in 1900, that grew to roughly 95% by 1950, where it's largely held since: graduation rates and graduate test scores tend to balance off one another, as one rises the other falls, both are fodder for much political jawboning). Education statistics are presented in "120 Years of American Education: A Statistical Portrai" published by the US Department of Education (1993) <hhttps://www.google.com/books/edition/120_Years_of_American_Education/wgEFAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=US+Department+of+Education,+120+Years+of+American+Education:+A+Statistical+Portrait&printsec=frontcover https://www.google.com/books/edition/120_Years_of_American_E...>