Staff writer
Lunch will cost 10 cents more at USD 408 schools beginning this fall. Breakfast prices will increase by five cents.
Superintendent Lee Leiker said the slight increase has “nothing to do” with the addition of a food service management program, which was approved at a recent school board meeting for the 2015-16 school year.
State and federal recommended prices are higher than what USD 408 charges for its lunches, Leiker said. To continue receiving federal aid money for its food program, the district had to close the gap between its prices and the recommended ones.
“It becomes a compliance issue,” he said.
Prices for breakfast will be $1.55 for students kindergarten through fifth grade, $1.80 for students in grades 6 through 12, and $2.70 for adults. Lunches will cost $2.20 for kindergarten through fifth, $2.45 for sixth through twelfth, and $3.35 for adults.
Leiker said the minimum amount the schools had to increase lunch prices to remain in compliance was 9 cents.
The decision was made at a end-of-year school board meeting Monday.
A three-judge panel in Shawnee District Court ruled the recently enacted state block grant funding program for education unconstitutional and ordered the state to repay schools statewide. Marion would stand to reclaim $51,000 in aid money if the state followed through.
Leiker said the board approved purchase of a $70,000 activity bus should funds be returned.
The board also hired five lifeguards. Leiker said he’s pleased with the job Kylie Schroeder’s done staffing the pool, as it allows the facility to be more flexible in its hours.