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: It urged a gradual rise in lunch prices to prevent federal money from being “siphoned off to keep prices low for paid meals.” Congress heeded the suggestion, tying an increase of 6 cents in the reimbursement rates, the first in 30 years, to the mandate for increased meal prices in the child nutrition bill. Image
A salad bar at a New York City public school typifies the healthier approach to school lunches under the child nutrition bill. Credit...
Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
Based on a convoluted formula that takes into account inflation and the average price of meals sold in schools, certain districts — like New York City, where lunch is sold for $1.50 — did not have to raise prices this year. But next year, it could be different, unless the districts decide to use their own money to subsidize lunches. The mandatory increases in meal prices are “a recognition that over time, the money coming in to schools from the sale of paid meals has not kept pace with the cost of preparing those meals,” said Kevin Concannon, under secretary for food, nutrition and consumer services at the Department of Agriculture, which oversees the school meal program. “ The consideration here is the transition and giving school districts time to make the adjustments that they need to serve healthier meals to all our kids.” But Eric Goldstein, who oversees the New York City schools’ food program, said the law “misses the point.” Price increases threaten to upend the delicate balance of school food operations, Mr. Goldstein said, as they might compel more parents to pack their children’s lunches or to skip on paying cafeteria lunch fees altogether — already a huge problem, with the city absorbing $42 million in unpaid fees since 2004. Mr. Concannon, of the Agriculture Department, said the bill “seeks to ensure that the level of support for all school meals is equal.”