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Norwalk schools face roughly $800,000 food‑service revenue shortfall after grant cuts and lower meal counts
Summary
District finance staff told the Finance Committee a combination of reduced grant awards, exhausted reimbursements and lower meal counts could create about an $800,000 revenue shortfall in the Food Services Fund for FY26; city and philanthropic transfers partially offset the gap.
Norwalk School District finance staff told the Board of Education Finance Committee on Nov. 12 that the district now expects about an $800,000 shortfall in the Food Services Fund for FY26 after several anticipated grants were awarded at lower levels and meal participation declined.
CFO Linda Asimani said the district had expected to receive several grants that historically supported school meals but this year received smaller awards. "We applied for 10 schools [for the fresh fruit and vegetable grant], historically we have been funded for 10 schools. This year ... they only approved it for 4," Asimani said, and that change left an approximate $155,000 gap for that grant alone. Additional reimbursement programs covered fewer schools than anticipated, leaving a further $280,000 reduction. Another local reimbursement source has been exhausted, costing about $40,000.
Asimani said meal counts are down and the district’s food‑service contractor, Chartwells, estimated about a $422,000 decrease tied to lower participation. "So all in all, we're looking at about an $800,000 shortfall in revenue this year, from the food services program," she said.
The district has already budgeted transfers into the food fund and has received a $200,000 transfer from the city and a $200,000 philanthropic contribution to help close the gap, Asimani said. The district is also identifying payroll and other savings to move through an operations 910 holding account into Fund 401 (food services). Staff and communications are working to notify families that the district has returned to the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) so that more students are aware they can receive free meals and to encourage participation.
Asimani said some parents preemptively added funds to MySchoolBucks when the district had been out of CEP, and the district is processing reimbursements for those families. She said the superintendent has briefed the mayor and the city is aware of the situation; the district will continue to seek savings and report updates to the board.
The committee heard the food‑service update as part of the budget transfers and FY26 status discussion and approved the transfers shortly afterward. The district did not present a final corrective plan at the meeting beyond the combination of city/philanthropic transfers and internal savings; staff said they will keep the board updated.
