Q: Do Wake county school cafeterias make a profit? Where can taxpayers view a copy of the cafeterias financial records?
- Marie King, Raleigh

A: To answer your question, I contacted Marilyn B. Moody who is the senior director of Child Nutrition Services for the Wake County Public School System. Here is her response:

“Child Nutrition programs across the state are enterprise accounts for each school district. This means that their budgets are separate from the school system budgets.

Each CN program operates on the revenue it receives from parents (cost of breakfast, lunch, and extras), from federal reimbursement dollars (for breakfasts and lunches for all students) and a very small amount of state dollars to cover some administrative costs and/or the small state kindergarten breakfast program. (10 schools in Wake county have the kindergarten program) Also, about 20 cents per plate comes from USDA as commodity foods.

The CN revenue must cover all expenses of the program: food, labor, supplies, indirect costs (for heat and electricity...), and other overhead expenses such as dumpster and recycling pick ups.

The CN program is federally regulated to be non-profit with only a limited amount of fund balance to cover unexpected costs and replacement costs. (A double stack oven may cost $10,000). All funds must remain in the CN program and kept separate from the school system.

If a CN program cannot break even, it is the responsibility of the local school board to cover CN expenses. Wake County CN program has been able to cover its own expenses for the past 25 years.

Each CN budget is listed with the school system's budget and audited annually by an outside agency. The budget may be found in the published Annual Financial Report for the school system.”
- Kelly

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