MFISD plan would provide free breakfast, lunch price hike to offset cost
Connie Swinney/The Highlander
The Marble Falls ISD school board discussed a proposal that would raise lunch prices in order to pay for free breakfast for all the students in the district. The main concern expressed by the board is how a price increase would affect participation. Pictured here are Marble Falls Middle School students March 28 at lunch time.
By Nathan Hendrix
Staff Writer
Marble Falls Independent School District introduced a proposal to provide free breakfast to all students in the district at the monthly school board meeting on Tuesday, March 26.
According to estimates provided by assistant superintendent of administration Dr. Jeff Gasaway, the proposal would cost the district approximately $45,000 per school year. Gasaway said the cost could potentially be offset by an increase in lunch prices throughout the district of 10 cents.
The proposed 10-cent increase would stack with the price increases discussed at last month's meeting designed to counter the district's first net loss in the child nutrition balance in seven years.
The district has carried a positive fund balance throughout this time, and doing so has allowed the administration to keep meal prices below the United States Department of Agriculture required amounts. Even after last year's $118,532 loss, the district's child nutrition fund balance sits at $524,289 as of Feb. 11.
“It's not gloom and doom right now, but it could be in three to five years,” said Mary Davidson, director of child nutrition. “Do we want to continue with the level of service we're providing? That's what it boils down to.”
The biggest question that needs to be answered for the free breakfast and price increase proposals is the effect it will have on participation.
“We don't know if the participation will stay at the level it is,” Gasaway said. “Many times when you have a dramatic jump, there's a little bit of a step down where kids aren't participating.”
Last month, the board listened to a proposal to raise meal prices throughout the district, including a 40-cent increase in lunch prices for all students. After the 40-cent increase, MFISD would still have the lowest-priced lunches in the area. With an additional 10-cent increase, only Kerrville ISD would have more inexpensive lunches.
Davidson said the USDA calculates recommended prices based on the amount the district receives in reimbursements for free meals minus the amount it receives for paid meals.
As of this school year, MFISD receives $3.39 per free lunch it serves and $0.39 for each paid lunch it serves resulting in a required price of $3.00. The district's pricing would remain under the USDA recommended amount after the potential price hike.
The district's last increase in meal prices was in April 2015, according to Gasaway. During that time, supplies, food and payroll expenses have increased by an average of two percent each year.
In the 2011-2012 school year, the district went away from using third-party contractors to provide meal services to students, and the move allowed some money to be put into food service renovations around the district. . . .
Find more on this story and additional Marble Falls ISD school board business in the Friday, March 29 issue of The Highlander, the newspaper of record for the Highland Lakes. To offer a comment or news tip, email nathan@highlandernews.com.
