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Board approves modest lunch and breakfast price increases to offset rising food costs
Summary
The Brentwood School Board unanimously approved new student meal prices for next school year: lunch will increase to $3.75 and breakfast to $2.25, a change staff said is intended to reduce but not eliminate the program’s annual deficit.
The Brentwood School Board voted unanimously to raise student meal prices for the next school year, with lunch moving to $3.75 and breakfast to $2.25.
Ron relayed the food service director’s recommendation, saying, “Her recommendation, she says she would prefer not to go over a 10¢ increase to both, lunch and breakfast.” Board members discussed district comparators and federal guidance; staff noted the U.S. Department of Agriculture guidance recently suggested a national recommended lunch price of $3.85 for next year.
Staff told the board the modest increase is intended to keep the food-service program closer to covering inflation in food, packaging and transportation costs but will not eliminate an operating shortfall. Ron said that historically the district ends each year with a gap “consistently been anywhere from $1,500 to $2,000” that the operating budget covers. Board members discussed whether to survey families before raising prices; several members said the short timeline and the likely low survey response made a quick survey impractical.
A board member moved to accept the recommendation to raise lunch and breakfast prices; a second followed and the motion passed unanimously. Staff said the operating budget will absorb any remaining uncollected balances at year‑end and that no student is being denied lunch.
