North Penn presents 2025–26 school nutrition budget, seeks continuation of four-school CEP pilot

Haley Smith, assistant coordinator for School Nutrition Services, presented the department—s proposed 2025—26 budget and said the program will again recommend no increase in student meal prices for the coming year.

Smith said participation has risen after menu changes and a state policy solidifying universal school breakfast; she summarized a Community Eligibility Provision pilot at Oak Park, Knapp, Hatfield and Northbridge elementary schools and described related costs and staffing needs. "The community eligibility provision...is a non-pricing meal service option for qualifying schools and districts," Smith said, explaining CEP lets qualifying schools serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students without collecting household applications.

Why it matters: the SNS enterprise fund is intended to operate self-sufficiently, but state rules require a corrective plan if fund balance exceeds three months of expenses. Smith told the committee SNS reported an end-of-year net cash resource of $7,700,000 for 2023—24 against a three-month average expense of $1,900,000, leaving $5,800,000 that PDE requires the district to plan to spend down.

Smith said the CEP pilot has increased participation…