DALLAS – More students across the country are being served all three meals by their government school.

“Their lunch is so early in the day, by the time it’s 3 o’clock, they’re starving all over again,” Dallas Assistant Principal Annette Fields tells KENS 5.

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“It’s been taking off like crazy,” she adds.

Because 90 percent of Dallas students qualify for free- or reduced-priced school lunches, the district decided to expand its offerings.

And they’ve found they can keep students even longer at school by providing free food.

“The students — where we have the program — have found that … they are able to go through enrichment and tutorial programs and they get re-energized so they can make it through,” says Dora Rivas, food and nutrition director for Dallas schools.

The district isn’t alone.

Los Angeles schools are “doubling” the number of students who eat dinner at school. Eventually, they hope to serve meals to all students.

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Thirteen states and the District of Columbia are participating in a pilot program in which “schools where at least half the students are low-income and qualify for free or reduced-price lunch are reimbursed for each supper by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, at a rate often significantly higher than the cost of the meal,” the AP reports.

“In the 2014 fiscal year, 104 million suppers were served to students, up from about 19 million in 2009.”

That’s 500 percent growth in five years.

“When kids are hungry, they don’t pay attention,” L.A. school board member Bennett Kayser said in announcing the district’s dinner program. “This is something that should have started years ago.”

Critics contend it’s another way for government schools to horn in on family time.

Studies have found students that eat dinner with their families get better grades, have better attendance and enjoy better family relations, according to the AP.

“Yet the research also presents a chicken-and-egg type question: Do children reap those benefits because they have dinner with their families, or do the same families that have dinner together display other traits that account for higher achievement?” the news service reports.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie celebrated an after-school dinner pilot program.

Christie said Camden’s program “can really greatly impact their academic performance,” according to the South Jersey Times.