School Lunch Prices in Plum Expected to Increase

Students in the Plum School District are going to have to pay more for their lunches next school year.

District officials are expected to approve a 15-cent increase for elementary students and a 20-cent increase for secondary students at the June 28 school board meeting. Lunch prices would be $1.90 and $2.25, respectively.

Prices are expected to continue to increase over the next few years, officials said.

At a food services committee meeting on Wednesday, district food services director Maryann Lazzaro suggested the prices increase by 25 cents across the board to prepare for new federal department of agriculture guidelines that will require districts to serve more whole grains; fruits and vegetables; and fat-free or low-fat milk.

"Our costs are going to skyrocket with the lower sodium and increased fruits and vegetables," she said. "The price of whole grains is a whole lot more expensive than a piece of white bread.

"I personally would rather do it once and have the public bite the bullet than come back with an increase two years in a row."

Lazzaro said many neighboring school districts—Riverview School District is not one of them—are raising lunch prices because of the upcoming menu change.

Riverview business manager Frank Thompson said the lunch prices are staying put at $2 in elementary and $2.25 in secondary, but officials probably will have to look at an increase for the 2012-13 school year.

There currently is a $40,000 surplus in Plum's food services department's budget. School board member Andy Drake said he wouldn't feel comfortable raising the price of lunches by 25 cents—the revenue from the increase would add about $73,000 to the surplus—for a surplus that big.

"Phasing it in is the more appropriate way," Drake said. "We shouldn't take the money from the citizens if we don't need to."

Lazzaro said the department likes to keep some money in the budget in case equipment—a lot of which is old—fails.

Drake said money for repairs said it's not fair for families to take an extra 25-cent-per-lunch hit because of a hypothetical situation. He said money could be taken out of the general fund budget if equipment fails.