 School lunch participation nationally dropped from 31.6 million students in 2012 to 30.4 million in 2014, according to the federal Department of Agriculture.Pennsylvania statistics show school lunch participation dropped by 86,950 students in the same two years, from 1,127,444 in 2012 to 1,040,494 in 2014.In 2014, President Barack Obama ordered a prohibition of advertisements for unhealthy foods on public school campuses during the school day.