Board amends school-meal increase to raise adult-meal price only after trustees debate student impact

The board considered a staff recommendation to raise student meal prices by $0.25 across the board after an OPI audit found adult-meal pricing below the mandated minimum. Trustees and staff debated whether a small student-price increase would push families into debt and discussed the district's practice of offsetting food-service debt with general-fund transfers.

"It's 25¢ increase across the board, so it's $3 last year," Burley McMillan, presenting food-service figures, said when asked to compare prices to the prior year. Trustee Massarvi moved to amend the proposal to raise only the adult lunch price, noting that OPI's finding pertained specifically to the adult‑meal rate. "I would move to approve the adult lunch increase and to amend this not to increase any of the K through 12 lunches," the trustee said; the amended motion passed with a single recorded opposition noted during the roll call.

Administration told trustees that the audit targeted adult pricing (not student rates) and that failing to correct adult rates could affect federal reimbursements; trustees discussed alternatives such as using general‑fund dollars to hold student prices steady. Staff agreed to provide additional detail about food-service debt and to continue outreach encouraging families to complete free-and-reduced application forms to reduce uncompensated meals.