Boyertown food service presents 2025–26 budget; proposes 5-cent lunch price increase
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Summary
Director Cheryl Clinton presented the food service fund proposal for 2025–26, reporting roughly 221,284 breakfasts and 503,148 lunches served this year, staff counts and a plan to propose adoption June 24; the proposal includes a 5-cent lunch price increase and a $1/hour support-staff wage increase.
Cheryl Clinton, the district’s director of food services, presented the proposed food service fund budget for 2025–26 at the June 10 Committee of the Whole meeting, outlining revenues, expenditures, staffing and next steps for board consideration.
Clinton described the federal programs that support school meals and explained reimbursement mechanics under USDA and the Pennsylvania Department of Education. For the current year through June 6, she reported 221,284 school breakfast meals and 503,148 lunch meals served across nine buildings.
The proposed local revenue budget assumes a 5-cent increase in lunch prices at all levels, and proposed expenditures include employee salaries and benefits, food and supplies, operating costs, equipment and contracted services. Clinton said the salary proposal includes a $1 per hour increase for support staff and the budget reflects the district’s ongoing food-service staffing levels: 66 total employees (including 9 managers and approximately 55 part-time support staff) and a contract with Kelly Services for substitute cafeteria staff.
Clinton said the food service fund balance and nonspendable items (such as carryover meal account balances and federal/state supply-chain allocations) are presented in budget detail, and she recommended the board move to adopt the budget on June 24.
Board members asked clarifying questions on enrollment counts, relationship between food-service enrollment and the general budget, and the components of the fund balance. Clinton said some counts exclude dually enrolled and homeschooled students and students placed out of district.
