Resident urges Rutherford County to lower school lunch costs and restore publicly posted budget documents

At the May 27 Budget, Finance and Investment Committee meeting, District 6 resident Danielle Nadu told commissioners she could not find budget documents on the county SharePoint and urged officials to make school lunches less costly for families.

"I don't understand not wanting to feed children when there is a surplus in the cafeteria account," Nadu said, recounting that elementary lunches cost $3.25 while middle and high school lunches run $3.50 and breakfasts are $2. She asked whether the county could cover part of those costs or follow models like universal free lunch used by city schools, noting past issues with matching funds and nutrition standards.

County staff later told the committee that the school-related documents remain available under the Health and Education committee folder on SharePoint and that an updated set of files will be published after the committee completes its votes.

The exchange drew attention from commissioners who asked the schools and finance staff about meal debt data and whether the school board had considered price changes; staff said meal-pricing is ultimately a school-board operational decision and noted historical data on fund balance and meal debt could be reviewed.