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Tacoma schools say child nutrition program runs a $2 million local gap despite rising participation
Summary
District officials told the school board the district’s child nutrition program serves nearly 28,000 meal components daily but reimburses cover about $18 million of roughly $20 million in costs, leaving a roughly $2 million shortfall funded by local taxes.
Kari Campan, director of Strategic Financial Operations for Tacoma Public Schools, told the board that the district’s child nutrition program is not self-supporting and relies on local tax revenue to cover a shortfall.
Campan said the district budgets roughly $17 million in CEP-based reimbursements and about $1 million directly from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a total of about $18 million, while costs run about $20 million. “We have about $20,000,000 of costs covered by $18,000,000 of expected reimbursements for meals,” Campan said. She also described per-meal federal reimbursement rates, saying, “$2.37 is the reimbursement for a breakfast meal, for our students. $4.43 for a lunch that’s being served, and then snacks, a dollar 21.”
The nut graf: The presentation framed the tension between rising participation and…
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