Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Child Nutrition topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Grand Forks board approves 20¢ increase for student meals to shore up child-nutrition fund
Summary
The Grand Forks Public Schools Board voted 9-0 to raise several meal prices by 20¢ to protect the district's USDA-funded child nutrition program (Fund 50); administrators said the fund remains healthy and the district will still have the lowest prices in the state after the change.
The Grand Forks Public Schools Board of Education voted unanimously to increase elementary and secondary breakfast and lunch prices, and adult breakfast, by 20 cents each.
The change, approved 9-0 on a roll-call vote, applies to elementary breakfast and lunch, secondary breakfast and lunch, and adult breakfast. Director of Finance Jay Baumbach told the board the child nutrition account is Fund 50 and is “completely separate from the general operations from our school district.” He said the increase is intended to maintain the fund's health, not to cover general fund expenses.
Board members heard that the district has not raised meal prices since the 2017-18 school year. Baumbach said the recommended 20-cent increase would result in an annualized difference of about $17.40 per paying student. He also told members the district's meal prices remain among the lowest in the state even after the increase.
Wendy Manky, director of child nutrition, answered questions about program operations and eligibility. Manky said the district is pushing more applications online this year to improve accuracy and speed of determinations. She described the program's anonymity safeguards: students enter a lunch number and staff do not see a label identifying free or reduced status.
Manky described the fund's revenue and expenses, saying the fund's largest costs are labor and food. “If families don't pay for the lunches, we still feed them and that can be a drag on that fund,” she said. She also noted the district has used the fund's healthy balance to make some capital purchases for kitchen equipment in prior years.
Board members who spoke supported the modest increase and praised Manky's management of the program. Trustee Amber Flynn said she thought the increases were fair and could support advocacy at the state level for additional assistance. Trustee Lehi noted the district policy to continue feeding students with negative balances.
The motion to adopt the 20-cent increases was seconded by board member Cleven; the roll call recorded Lund, Flynn, Palmasino, Larson, Cleven, Hodak, Anderson, Manley and Berger voting yes (9-0). No members voted no or were absent.
The board and staff said the district will continue monitoring food costs and program balances and will return to the board with future updates if conditions change.
