District May Increase School Lunch Prices

The first increase in breakfast and lunch prices in seven years is being proposed in the Murrieta Valley Unified School District.

The 25-cent bump would affect elementary schools and would be effective with the start of new school year in August, according to an agenda report. The price of breakfast would go from $1.25 to $1.50 and lunch from $2 to $2.25.

Operating costs and personnel costs have risen substantially since 2005, according to the report prepared by Director of Nutrion Services Jill Lancaster and Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Stacy Coleman.

Additionally, new Lunch Price Equity regulations under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Act of 2010 require National School Lunch Program participants to charge a price for paid lunches that is equal to the difference between free meal reimbursement and paid meal reimbursement.

Nearly 28 percent of the district's students qualifed for free or reduced lunch in 2011—up from 15 percent in 2005.

School districts are reimbursed $2.79 for each free lunch, and 28 cents per paid lunch.

School districts that do not have a weighted average lunch price of $2.51 are required to increase meal prices or make up the funding another way.

Murrieta Valley Unified needs to make up 31 cents per paid lunch in order to meet this difference.

Further, fruit and vegetable selections that have been an option in the past are required as part of student meals as of July 1, according to staff, who predicted produce usage to go up by 50 percent.

The hope was that increased lunch prices would assist Nutrition Services in maintaining a positive fund balance.

Research indicates that average prices charged for paid lunches in some school food authorities are less than the cost of producing those lunches, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, which administers the National School Lunch Program.

A district snapshot of October 2011 showed 47,161 elementary students purchased lunch, bringing in $94,322. Increasing the price by 25 cents would bring in approximately 106,112 per month—an additional 11,790.

No immediate price increases were proposed for middle and high school lunches. Currently, middle and high school breakfast costs $1.75 and lunch is $2.50, or $2.75 with a bottle of water.

The School Board is set to vote on the item at its 7 p.m. meeting Thursday at the District Support Center, 41870 McAlby Court, Murrieta.