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 and was affordable at the four pilot schools so far, with an estimated combined annual cost of about $45,633 to cover additional staffing and service needs at those sites. She said the district added a four-hour part-time staff member at each pilot elementary to handle higher participation and that the current cost is sustainable for the department at those four schools; she cautioned expanding CEP further would raise costs and might be unsustainable without additional subsidy.

Smith and board members discussed federal uncertainty over CEP qualification. Smith said Congress lowered the CEP qualifying threshold last year from 60% to 25%, which enabled the pilot; she also said a bill in Congress could return the threshold toward 60%. "If this happens, unfortunately, only Northbridge would qualify for our CEP program, and we would have to reevaluate our program and what we are able to continue with," Smith said.

Smith reviewed revenue and expense drivers: federal and state subsidies supply the largest share of SNS revenue, student sales account for roughly 20 percent, and a la carte sales about 10 percent. She said SNS received about $900,000 in federal supply-chain relief funds over the past three years; Smith said that funding is restricted to minimally processed items and that the department anticipates carrying unspent funds forward. She noted the presentation included an equipment inventory and a planned five-to-seven-year replacement schedule, with a recommended capital planning target of $150,000 to $200,000 per year.

Smith reported a districtwide breakfast average that rose nearly 7 percent compared with the prior year and that daily average breakfast servings have moved from about 1,800 pre-pandemic to over 3,400. Lunch daily averages rose from roughly 5,600 pre-pandemic to more than 6,100. Smith said the department intentionally did not raise meal prices (the last increase was 2014—15) and plans to maintain current prices for 2025—26.

On policy and operations, Smith summarized statutory and program requirements. She said SNS must submit an annual child nutrition financial report to the Pennsylvania Department of Education and that the department—s corrective action plan submitted to PDE includes the chef consultant program, new SNS positions tied to CEP, capital equipment purchases listed in the equipment-replacement plan and increased food costs tied to menu improvements.

Smith also described the SNS summer feeding plan: daily meal distribution will run Monday—Friday from June 23 to Aug. 8, with approximately 20 community sites planned and four stops on the SNS summer van route (Hatfield Parks & Rec, Culp, Oak Park, Englewood). She said lunches will be provided at no cost to children 18 and younger and that fresh-produce bags will be offered when available.

Board members commended the presentation and raised questions about federal funding risks; Dr. Bauer and board members noted that changes in federal subsidy policy could lower participation and revenue and urged advocacy to protect school meal funding. Jason Lanier, a public commenter from Lansdale, said he was impressed by food quality but described summer feeding as "mission creep" for a school district; board members and staff responded that summer meal sites respond to ongoing community need and are supported by federal and state subsidy programs.

Ending: Smith said the department will proceed with planned capital budgeting and staffing recommendations while monitoring federal policy and CEP eligibility changes. The board scheduled additional budget review meetings in March to continue presentations across departments.