Sunday May 4

Cost of lunch may rise

Whisman School District to decide on 25-cent meal hike

By Melanie Carroll / Daily News Staff Writer

Nearly half the children at the Mountain View Whisman School District will pay a quarter more for meals each day if the school board approves a price hike aimed at offsetting rising costs amid decreasing reimbursements from the state.

Students attending the district's six elementary and two middle schools currently pay $3 for lunch and $2 for breakfast. A plan the board discussed Thursday night calls for charging 25 cents more for both meals.

Fifty-five percent of the district's students receive free or reduced cost meals. Those children would not pay more for their meals, said Craig Goldman, the district's chief financial officer.

"We are trying to provide the smallest increase" possible, Goldman said.

The proposal that the board is scheduled to vote on May 15 comes in response to rising food, transportation and health care costs - along with anticipated reductions in reimbursements from the state for free and reduced cost meals, Goldman said.

"Wheat, flour and eggs ... are up about 15 to 20 percent," Goldman said.

School Board Member Fiona Walter said the schools' lunch programs need to break even, which is currently not the case.

"We've been in the red" by more than $100,000 a year, Walter said.

While Walter can't predict how the board will vote in May, she did say that it will take seriously the recommendation from Goldman. Other districts, including the Sunnyvale School District, are considering similar measures or have already implemented them, Walter said.

"We always have to keep an eye on the bottom line," Walter said. "We have to be fiscally sound."

Walter said many students who may be eligible for assistance have not signed up or applied for it. If the proposal to raise the price of meals moves forward, schools would step up efforts to ask qualifying parents to fill out the appropriate forms, she added.

The federal government pays up to $2.47 per free lunch for low-income children as part of the National School Lunch Program. The state also contributes to the cost of the meals, but its grim budget situation could affect funding. This week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said the budget shortfall could hit the $20 billion mark in the upcoming fiscal year. Goldman said he expects the state to roll back its reimbursement by about 21 cents per meal.



E-mail Melanie Carroll at mcarroll@dailynewsgroup.com.