Tue Feb 09 2010
Driven by higher food costs, the head of Frankfort Independent Schools Food Services will ask board of education members to raise prices next year - 50 cents for lunch and 25 cents for breakfast.
For a student who eats lunch every day, the increase would mean an additional $2.50 a week, or $88.50 a year. Both lunch and breakfast would cost an extra $3.75 a week, or $132.75 a year.
Food Services Director April Peach-Yancey says the proposed increases are essential to keeping healthy meals on students' plates.
"The request to increase prices is based on the fact that prices have gone up on food across the board," she said.
"It's gone up dramatically with the things we like to serve here, which are the healthier fresh produce, fresh fruits and things like that."
Food services at Frankfort Independent - and school districts across Kentucky - are losing money due to higher price tags on food, labor and energy.
"It starts at the bottom and goes all the way up," Peach-Yancey said. "Fuel costs, packaging - everything's gone up."
The USDA cites those factors, too. Increased demand for food, coupled with higher crude oil prices and production of biofuels - like corn-based ethanol - have contributed to food prices that were 5 percent higher in 2008, according to the USDA's Web site.
Higher farm production costs and bad weather also play a role, the USDA says.
It costs Frankfort Independent Schools an average of $3.46 to produce each lunch; the national average is $2.92, according to the School Nutrition Association.
But Frankfort students pay $2 for lunch, and the federal government reimburses school districts $2.57 for each lunch served through the free lunch program.
At Frankfort Independent, 61 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-priced meals.
The School Nutrition Association has asked Congress to increase the reimbursement by 35 cents per meal to meet the average, and update rates semi-annually.
Neighboring school districts charge similar rates, all below the average cost of preparing a meal.
Franklin County Public Schools charges elementary students $2.10 and middle and high school students $2.40; elementary students in Anderson County pay $1.90, and older students pay $2.25.
Lunch prices in Henry County range from $1.80 to $2.05, and students in Owen County pay $1.75 at the elementary school level, and $2.25 at the middle and high schools.
Shelby County Food Services Director Evell Coomer said by e-mail that lunch prices are likely to rise there next year, from their current levels of $1.75 for elementary students and $1.95 for middle and high schoolers.
"I don't expect it (increased prices) to generate any additional funds," Peach-Yancey said. "I am hoping just that it will help ease the deficit of the department.
Peach-Yancey said her staff does a lot of scratch cooking, using whole meats rather than processed, and fresh fruits and vegetables. She said the district could save money by serving more pre-made and frozen foods.
"But to me, that's not really even food," she said. "It's just substance."
The district is working to get more locally-grown fruits and vegetables into the lunch line, she said.
"All those things that you want to do, all those things that we would like to do, are those things that, once again, increase your prices," she said.
Through government commodities, she is able to purchase pork, chicken, cheese and frozen vegetables. Frankfort Independent has been allocated $21,000 next year, $1,000 of which will go toward fresh fruits and vegetables.
The district has also applied for a federal Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program grant, which is based on the percentage of students who receive free and reduced-price lunch. Kentucky will receive $1.2 million from the federal government to distribute to school districts in August.
There is also money in the stimulus package for cafeteria equipment, Peach-Yancey said.
"I will be submitting an application to try to get a piece of that pie also," she said. "The deficit makes it hard for us to maintain our equipment, and thank goodness the higher-ups all recognize that."
The Frankfort Independent Board of Education is expected to consider the price increase at its meeting Tuesday.
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