District outlines plan to provide free school meals next year, announces staff-pay increases

Albany County School District No. 1 administrators told the school board at its June meeting that they intend to use federal meal-program rules so all students can eat for free next school year and described a set of pay increases for district employees.

The plan centers on using free-and-reduced lunch application counts to set the district—s reimbursement rate under a federal provision that would allow universal free meals in most schools. "I'm gonna work with Madison and need everybody's help in spreading the word that I need as many free and reduced lunch applications submitted, in August and September of this year," said Miss Green, the district—s finance officer, explaining the timeline to capture the percentage used for October claims and for the following four years.

Why it matters: federal reimbursement rates determine how much the U.S. Department of Agriculture will reimburse the district for breakfasts and lunches. Higher participation means higher federal reimbursement and reduces the amount the district must subsidize from the general fund.

Details from the presentation - Miss Green said the district will push to enroll eligible families in the program this August and September so the district can set the federal reimbursement percentage in October. "Then we will be able to claim at that percentage rate," she said. Administrators said that reimbursement percentages set in October hold for four years under the chosen approach. - Miss Green described the fiscal trade-off: "What you're going to increase is about $300,000, which is gonna be the loss, annually of those paid students," referring to the revenue the district forgoes when paid meals become free, and she said the additional federal reimbursement will offset part of that cost. - Board members and administrators said three schools will qualify as CEP schools and will not need to submit applications; the rest of the schools will need the submitted applications to establish the district-wide percentage.

Pay increases - The district said it can raise base compensation for salaried staff and hourly classified staff as part of the finalized budget. Miss Green described the payroll adjustments as follows: earlier budget work proposed a $2,500 increase for certified (salaried) staff; district staff said they can now "do $4,000," and that classified staff will receive an additional hourly increase. "We're actually able to do $4,000, a $4,000 raise for certified and another $3 per hour total for classified," Miss Green said during the meeting. - Trustees praised the shift to larger base increases as a recruitment measure. Trustee Tristan Martin said the increases bring the district closer to regional competitors and called the changes "delivering for all of our employees."

Board requests and next steps - Trustees asked the administration to lead a communications push with schools, social media and community partners so families complete the free-and-reduced forms in August and September. Miss Green and Madison (district communications staff) said they will coordinate outreach with principals and target back-to-school events so families can complete forms in person. - Administrators said they will finalize budget journal entries this summer and meet auditors in preparation for the year-end audit.

The board did not take a separate, recorded roll-call vote on the meal or raise numbers at the meeting; staff presented the plan to the board and said they will incorporate the measures into the final budget.