Committee approves raising visitor prices for school breakfasts and lunches

The Ouachita Parish Finance Committee voted to recommend raising visitor meal prices for school breakfasts and lunches after the child nutrition director reported production costs exceeded current visitor charges.

During the discussion, Miss Guerrero, staff member, said the average plate cost the district currently records is $3.22 for breakfast and $4.80 for lunch and that federal regulations require the district’s at‑cost meal charge to be equal to or greater than the average meal cost. She told the committee the district sold only 46 visitor breakfasts this year and that the child nutrition program must also absorb added expenses—including a roughly $250,000 camera purchase for cafeteria and serving‑line coverage—when calculating true production costs.

“To comply with federal requirements and to reflect actual production costs, we’re requesting permission to raise visitor breakfast to $4 and visitor lunch to $6,” Miss Guerrero said. She noted employee meals remain at $3 and that the district covers employee meal subsidies through available MFP/general funds; the committee did not raise employee meal prices at this time.

Committee members asked how student meals are funded. Guerrero said the Community Eligibility Program (CEP) and other reimbursements cover much of the difference between student charges and production cost; several schools in the district participate in CEP, which results in more meals being served free to students and increases federal reimbursement to the district.

After a motion and second, the committee approved the recommendation to increase visitor breakfast from $2.50 to $4 and visitor lunch from $5 to $6 and will forward the recommendation to the full board. The vote was recorded as a unanimous voice vote with no opposition recorded.