Lee Pulaski, lpulaski@wolfrivermedia.com
Shawano School District families that don’t qualify for free and reduced meals will pay 10 cents more for lunches in the 2015-16 school year.
The School Board voted 7-2 Monday to implement the increase, which would make lunches $2.30 each at the elementary schools and $2.45 at the middle and high schools.
Under the federal Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010, school districts that participate in the National School Lunch Program are required to review lunch prices annually.
A district should not receive more money for reduced meals than it does for paid meals, according to Louise Fischer, district business manager.
“Right now, they see us as making a profit off of free and reduced lunches, which they don’t want,” Fischer said.
In the 2014-15 school year, Shawano School District received 28 cents for every paid lunch, which made the total amount received $2.48 for elementary lunches and $2.63 for middle and high school lunches.
However, the federal government reimbursed the district $2.98 for free lunches, a difference of 35 to 50 cents per lunch.
The district has not received information yet on the 2015-16 federal reimbursement rate.
However, the act also doesn’t allow a district to increase lunch prices more than 10 cents each, Fischer said.
Board member Bruce Milavitz, who voted against the increase, questioned what would happen if the board opted not to increase lunch prices.
Fischer said she was uncertain what the consequences would be, but feared the district could endanger its reimbursement.
Milavitz suggested taking less in federal reimbursement in order to keep lunch prices the same, but Fischer said that was likely not an option. She said that opting out of the federal lunch program would cost at least $100,000 at the high school alone.
Board member Derek Johnson, who also voted no, criticized the increase because families would be paying more for lunch but not getting more food.
“They’re getting less,” Johnson said. “It’s a ridiculous intrusion into every kid’s lunch by the federal government.”