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Food service supervisor says program is self-sustaining, highlights scratch cooking and equipment upgrades
Summary
The district’s food and nutrition supervisor told the board the program operates a $4 million budget without general fund support, increased meals served, added scratch-cooked items, won grants and completed kitchen equipment upgrades, while flagging facility constraints.
Tara Gilby, the district’s food service supervisor, told the Grants Pass School Board that the food and nutrition program now operates as a self-sustaining department and described recent work to expand scratch cooking, replace aging equipment and increase meal counts.
“We operate a $4,000,000 budget,” Gilby said. “We do not use any money from the District General Fund at all. We are self sufficient.” She said about 88% of revenue comes from reimbursable meals across campuses, roughly 10% from grants and the remainder from nonprogram revenue such as a la carte sales and catering.
Gilby said labor and benefits account for about 67% of expenditures and roughly 30% is dedicated to food costs; equipment replacement was described as about 2% annually under normal circumstances. The department reported receiving about $300,000 in grant revenue for fiscal 2024 and roughly $56,000 in additional non-grant revenue this year that funded menu expansion and equipment replacements. The program currently allocates about $65,000 per year for equipment replacement but said recent revenue allowed spending nearer $200,000 across two years.
Gilby outlined menu changes and scratch-cooking initiatives (homemade soups, baked goods, entrees), partnerships with local producers (Red Butte Farm carrots were used for a district Oregon Crunch Day) and participation in federal and state programs including the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which provides free school meals to students. She reported district meal counts of about 1,900 breakfasts and 3,300 lunches per day and noted the district served 885,000 meals in the previous school year.
Gilby asked the board to note remaining barriers, including old facilities, constrained service lines, power and water limitations at some kitchens, and community perceptions of school meals. Board members asked about off-campus meal competition, expansion of supper programs through the Child and Adult Care Food Program and the department’s efforts to provide nutrition education via Oregon State University partnerships.
No board action was requested; the presentation was informational.
