Solon Springs board agrees to apply donated funds, including $5,000 gift, to reduce student lunch deficit

The Solon Springs School District Board of Education at its June 15 meeting approved using donated funds to reduce the district’s student meal account deficit.

Staff told the board that funds have been donated specifically for food service and requested applying those funds toward the lunch-account shortfall. Staff cited a $5,000 donation from Elizabeth Nichols as available for this purpose and asked the board to allow its use to offset deficit accounts. A board member asked whether the district can apply on behalf of families for free and reduced-price lunch; staff replied that parents must complete verification for eligibility and that recent state changes reduced automatic qualification for some families, which lowered program counts and can affect grant eligibility.

Treasurer reported district balances earlier in the meeting: a beginning balance of $715,783.94, total deposits of $41,548.03, total expenses of $700,905.19 and a pending balance of $56,426.78; the local government fund balance was stated as $2,646,151.93. Board members discussed the policy tension of charging for meals while state rules require feeding children; staff said they send applications during open house and offer help filling them out.

Chair called for a motion to approve using donated funds toward the food-service balance. The motion passed by voice vote. The board did not record an exact dollar amount of how much of the deficit will be covered by the donations in the public transcript; staff said the lunch deficit is more than $5,000 but did not provide a final total in the meeting record.