NORWICH, Conn. -- A new study ranked Connecticut last in the country for the number of students provided with breakfast at school.

For the second year in a row, Connecticut placed last in the study performed by the Food Research and Action Center in Washington.

"That's really, really bad for a state like Connecticut where there really is so much wealth," said Lucy Nolan of End Hunger Connecticut.

Channel 3 Eyewitness News reported that countless studies throughout the years have shown the students who eat breakfast perform better academically.

Although Connecticut ranked last in the study, one group said there is a bright side to the rating.

The group, End Hunger Connecticut, said 3 percent more students are eating breakfast this year than last, and more than 50 percent of the students at Teachers' Middle School in Norwich are consuming the early meal.

"The teachers here really appreciate the program, because they know they are alert and ready to learn by the time school starts," Nolan said of the Norwich school.

According to the study, if Connecticut could get 60 percent of the state's low-income students eating breakfast at school, the state would receive $7.5 million more in federal funding.

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