Olivia P. Tucker
Times Reporter
Scott County School District 2 voted to approve raising school breakfast and lunch prices for students at their regular meeting on May 28.
The cost of breakfast will go from $1.70 to $2.25 and lunch will increase from $2.80 to $3.50.
SCSD2 Chief Financial Officer Chris Routt said that along with the director of food services Sue Hart, they have been looking at ways to save money since March. It was discovered that the food services were losing money, which the food service prices should pay for the food, salaries, and to be able to update equipment, he said.
Routt said at the end of April that food services were in the red by $12,000 because the school wasn’t charging enough for food for the students.
The cost of food has gone up and the previous price per student was not able to keep up with the increases keeping the food services negative, said Routt.
He said, “We can’t operate a school in negative balances, so we got to make this up somehow.”
Routt also addressed looking into other options and why SCSD2 doesn’t qualify for the Community Eligibility Provision program (CEP). CEP is a non-pricing food service option for schools and school districts in low-income areas.
To qualify for free or reduced meals for students must be eligible for programs such as SNAP, TANF, Medicaid. The majority of SCSD2 students do not qualify for free or reduced meals to be able for the school district to qualify for CEP, Routt explained
The board voted 4-0 to approve increasing the price of school meals with William ‘BJ’ Best not present during the vote.