Title: Public Schools Face the Rising Costs of Serving Lunch - The New York Times
Headings: Public Schools Face the Rising Costs of Serving Lunch
Public Schools Face the Rising Costs of Serving Lunch
Content: In Suffolk County, on Long Island, the president of the Board of Education at the Riverhead Central School District — which also raised prices by a quarter a day, or 12.5 percent for most students — said that parents had cornered her and other officials at supermarkets, gas stations and before meetings, questioning the increase. “All we could tell them was we really had no choice,” said the president, Ann Cotten-DeGrasse. Officials are already bracing for a backlash as the increases pile up. “Our parents haven’t complained, but I don’t know if they’ll be as understanding if we do it again next year, and the year after, and then the year after that,” said Louise D’Angelo, director of food services at the North Syracuse Central School District in upstate New York, where lunch prices just went up by 25 cents across all grades — to $1.75 in elementary school, $2 in middle school and $2.25 in high school. Image
Because of a complicated formula, New York City schools did not have to raise the $1.50 price this year. Credit...
Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
The new pricing requirement, which comes amid school budget cuts and a lingering recession, is the first time the federal government has gotten into the business of cafeteria prices since its school lunch program was established in 1946. Under the roughly $10 billion program, families with incomes up to 130 percent of the poverty level— $28,665 a year for a family of four — are eligible for free meals. Those that earn 130 percent to 185 percent of poverty level, or $40,793 for a family of four, qualify for reduced-price meals. The federal government reimburses districts $2.72 for free meals, $2.32 for reduced-price meals and 26 cents for the rest. Generally, this money is combined with proceeds from the sale of meals and snacks into a single pot.