Lafourche raises prices of public school meals

The cost of meals for all Lafourche students who do not qualify for the free- or reduced-price program is increasing.

The price increase closer represents the school district’s cost to produce breakfasts and lunches, according to Lauren Fletcher, director of the district’s child nutrition program. Approximately 60 percent of the entire Lafourche public school student body participates in the free- or reduced-cost program.

Parents can expect to pay as much as 30 cents per meal more beginning in the 2015-16 school year.

Elementary students will be charged $1.25 for breakfast and $1.65 for lunch – 30 cents more. Middle school breakfast prices will be $1.55, while lunch will increase to $1.55 – 20 cents more. High school meals are $1.60 for breakfast and $2.10 for lunch – 10 cents more.

Adult meals will increase by $1, making the new price $5.

“Right now, we’re only talking about what we’re charging for that meal,” Fletcher said. “What people don’t understand is that it doesn’t cost that to produce that meal.”

Fletcher said the school district served 2.5 million meals last school year. “We serve 11,000 lunches and 4,500 breakfasts per day,” she said.

Lafourche spent on average $4.26 to produce each meal. The cost, the nutrition director said, includes ingredients as well as maintenance and labor. Fletcher said each lunch, for example, was sold at a loss of $1.26 per meal.

The district spent more than $1.5 million to support the meal program, Fletcher said. Despite the price increases, the district will still have to augment breakfast and lunch spending, just at a lowered cost.

Fletcher said the National School Lunch Program helps subsidize a portion of the deficit between dollars collected for the meals and the actual amount spent making them.

Currently, 55 percent of the Lafourche public school student body receives free meals. Five percent are enrolled in the reduced-price program. Fletcher said 20 percent of the district’s student population pays the full price to eat breakfast and lunch.

The remaining students bring meals from home or opt out of the school program, she said.

The price change is a result of the federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which mandates public school districts charge “a more equitable rate” to students who pay the full cost of school lunch.

“The federal government would like to see the price of paid meals rise up to the level of its costs,” Lafourche Parish School Board member Gregg Stall said. “So this kind of puts us in line with other districts as far as what they’re charging.”

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