Wake schools plans to recommend school meal price increase

Wake County school leaders will recommend cost increases to school meals later this month, they said Tuesday, though they don't have a number in mind.

Leaders told the school board that they'll come back with a number by the board's next regular meeting, June 24, for a possible vote.

The school board has raised meal prices three years in a row as costs of services -- in goods, shipping and wages -- have risen.

Some school board members said they don't want to raise prices but are willing to consider a proposal.

Board Member Lynn Edmonds opposed the last increase, which the majority of the board approved. She hopes for consensus this time but understands the board is facing "a business scenario that we have to deal with."

She continued, "There is not board member at this table that wants to put this burden on families and increase prices."

The board, along with district officials, plans to explore longer-term financial solutions, such as finding other revenue sources, changing meal planning or adjusting inventory practices.

In the short-term, district leaders believe a price increase is likely necessary.

"The longer you delay raising prices the bigger amount you have to do," Superintendent Robert Taylor said. He said raising meal prices by smaller amounts each year reduces sticker price for families.

A $0.25 increase to school lunches would cost a family $44.25 more throughout a 177-day school year.

This school year, about 51,000 lunches and about 20,000 breakfasts are served each day to the district's about 161,000 students.

The Wake County Board of Education discussed the idea of raising school meal prices again during a work session Tuesday.

No specific cost increase was initially proposed during the presentation, though board members got a breakdown of how much revenue different price increases could bring in.

Tiffany Lawrence, the district's senior director of child nutrition services, discussed other potential solutions to expected school meal program revenue challenges, such as changing entree offerings, changing how some items are shipped and monitoring inventory for efficiencies.

The school board has raised meal prices three years in a row but so far hasn't talked about that for next year. Price increases are typically proposed and approved earlier than June.

The district's child nutrition services department has for years struggled to break even and projected a potential $3 million shortfall in revenue last year. Officials have blamed ongoing financial challenges on rising supply costs, rising wages, insufficient federal reimbursements and declining rates of families buying meals at school.

School nutrition services departments are financed separately from other school operations; they are funded entirely by their revenues and can’t run a deficit. While some grants can help them, generally other funds cannot be transferred to them to help them break even. That means funding comes from the price of meals — paid meals and the federal reimbursement rates for free and reduced-price meals.

The Wake County child nutrition services department has also used savings to cover losses in recent years, though those savings are depleting.

Wake County's meal prices are higher than many neighboring districts' prices. Additionally, more districts are taking advantage of the federal Community Eligibility Provision, which provides free meals for all students, regardless of income, if enough other students in the district or school qualify. Wake County as a district, which is relatively more affluent, doesn't qualify. Only about one-fifth of its schools qualify. Durham, Johnston, Chatham and Nash, for example, all qualify districtwide and offer free meals for all students.

The work session presentation lists nine potential revenue scenarios. A $0.10 per-meal increase could generate $229,000 more in revenue, based on how many meals have been served in the past year, and a $0.25 per-meal increase could generate $555,000 more in revenue.

But when prices increase, participation in the school lunch program drops.

When the school board approved a $0.25 per-meal increase last year, the expected revenue increase was $1.1 million.