Fayette | News

School lunches to rise 5¢

Tue, 06/16/2009 - 4:06pm
By: Ben Nelms

Lunches at Fayette County public schools will increase by 5 cents beginning in August. Prices on reduced-price meals and breakfasts will remain unchanged.

The school board Monday unanimously approved the request from Nutrition Director Laurie Cartrett that would increase the lunch price by 2.5 percent to offset the increase in food costs.

Lunches at elementary schools will go from $2 to the new price of $2.05, while high school lunches will increase from $2.10 to $2.15.

Cartrett said that while the school nutrition income had been slightly above expenditures this past year, she anticipated a 4.5 percent to 5 percent increase in food costs in the coming year along with a 3 percent increase in other supplies.

And while labor costs will drop by 4.5 percent, this will not be enough to offset the increase in food and supplies costs, she said.

Prices for reduced-price lunches will hold steady at 40 cents, as will reduced price breakfasts at 30 cents. Regular elementary breakfasts will also remain the same at $1.35 and regular middle and high school breakfasts will stay at $1.45.

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Second year in a row these have gone up...what gives?
Submitted by ptcmom678 on Wed, 06/17/2009 - 6:02am.

This is the second year in a row lunches have gone up after staying the same price for about five. I think it's less that costs are going up and more that FCBOE is scrambling for money any way they can. I realize that five cents doesn't seem like a lot, but it's an additional dollar a month for each day your kid buys lunch, five dollars per month if your student buys all week. Currently, my family has had to cut "bought" lunch down to two days a week, and this may cut it down to one. Last year, I noticed an increase in students bringing lunch from home, and another increase will just mean more lunchboxes.

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$1 a month?
Submitted by Spyglass on Wed, 06/17/2009 - 1:36pm.

Seriously, if this throws you off, you should have seriously considered not having kids. Sounds harsh I know..

Just feed'em peanut butter.

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Still a bargain...
Submitted by mcanix on Wed, 06/17/2009 - 1:10pm.

I think $2.05 is still a bargain. The price has needed to increase for a long time now.
BTW, it has everything to do with costs increasing and nothing to do with FCBOE. The school lunch program is a self-sufficient entity. (with the exception of salaries of the director and office staff) All pay, benefits, and costs are self contained within the program. Money is not obtained from the FCBOE's budget.
Because Fayette County has fewer residents that qualify for free and reduced price meals, there is less federal reimbursement for lunches. This means higher operating costs.
I don't understand your calculations when you wrote: "it's an additional dollar a month for each day your kid buys lunch, five dollars per month if your student buys all week."
If your student buys every day for the entire school year, you pay a TOTAL of $9 more for the whole year than last school year. (A total of $1 per month more than last year if the child buys every single day of the school year.)

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School Lunch
matt.barnes's picture
Submitted by matt.barnes on Wed, 06/17/2009 - 1:26pm.

If you can't scramble up an extra $1 per month per kid you've got some pretty serious money issues. Or you have too many kids.


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