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: Public Schools Face the Rising Costs of Serving Lunch - The New York Times
Education | Public Schools Face the Rising Costs of Serving Lunch
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/education/20lunch.html
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Public Schools Face the Rising Costs of Serving Lunch
Under a provision of the new child nutrition bill, which brought healthier food for school lunches, some school systems must charge more. Credit...
Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
By Fernanda Santos
Sept. 19, 2011
The federal government is making school meals more nutritious this year, but also more expensive. Under a little-noticed provision of the child nutrition bill signed by President Obama in December, which brought more fresh produce and less whole milk to cafeterias nationwide, school districts are required to start bringing their prices in line with what it costs to prepare the meals, eventually charging an average of $2.46 for the lunches they serve. Though the law suggests that prices go up by a maximum of 10 cents a year, the town of Seymour, Conn., raised its prices by 25 cents, after years without increases; the new prices, $2.25 a day for elementary school pupils, $2.50 for middle-school students and $2.75 for high school students — are listed on the district’s Web site, just under the words, “Welcome Back to School!” 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.