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Board approves school nutrition plan to continue free meals; debate continues over FY26 general fund and use of reserves
Summary
The Washington County Board approved a school-nutrition draft that continues universal free meals (CEP) and adopted several FY26 supplemental and contract increases, while trustees debated whether to present a general-purpose budget that draws on about $7.7 million in fund balance.
The Washington County Board of Education approved a draft nutrition budget that continues the district-wide Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) — providing free breakfast and lunch to all students — and discussed multiple FY26 budget items embedded in the general-purpose draft, including teacher and staff pay adjustments, custodial contract increases and athletic supplement changes.
Cafeteria staff and finance personnel presented two budget scenarios: continuing CEP for all schools (the district-wide free meals approach) and a more conservative version that would return some schools to the traditional free/reduced application process. District staff said the CEP approach is more costly to the school-nutrition fund and would reduce the nutrition fund’s projected end-of-year balance by roughly $1.2 million compared with the…
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