Parents with kids in elementary and middle schools in the Everett School District will dig a little deeper in their pocketbooks starting this fall.
As one of the steps taken by the school district to cut expenses by $4 million, the district is raising lunch prices by 25 cents per meal. Other money-saving changes include fewer bus stops for high school students and cutting some school district staff positions.
The new lunch prices are $2.75 a day for elementary school students and $3 a day for middle school students. The cost of high school lunches is unchanged, remaining at $3.
The price increases are expected to bring in an estimated $135,000 in revenue, allowing the program to break even at a time when food prices are increasing, said Debbie Webber, food and nutrition manager.
The school district considered raising lunch prices for the 2010-11 school year, but ultimately decided against it, said Mary Waggoner, school district spokeswoman.
“It came up again this year,” she said “The cuts were deeper than anyone would have wished.”
About 10,000 students in the 18,000-student school district buy school lunches, Webber said.
Of the students who buy lunch at school, 60 percent are from families whose incomes qualify them for free or reduced lunches, she said.
As one example, a family of four with a gross monthly income of $3,446 or less would qualify for reduced-price lunches.
Families must reapply to qualify for the program each school year. Applications are available online and at schools.
Prices of the school district’s breakfast program will remain unchanged, at $1 for elementary school students and $1.25 for middle and high school students.
Over the past three years, the number of students who eat school lunches and qualify for the free or reduced lunch program has increased, from 53 percent in the 2008-09 school year to 60 for the past school year, Webber said.
Overall, about two-thirds of elementary and middle school students get their lunches from school cafeterias, she said. An increasing number of high school students also are getting their lunches at school — some 40 percent.
Some of this increase in high schoolers buying school lunches is credited to made-to-order salads, Webber said.
“They’ve been hugely popular; even big senior high school boys, it’s amazing,” she said.
Last year was the first that salads were offered to high school students, Webber sad.
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
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