By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
The Burlington Area School District is finding itself in the literal definition of a Catch-22 with its food service.
“A dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions.”
Because of federal funding for free and reduced meals within the district, the district is required to have a minimum price for its fully paid meals – called paid lunch equity.
But because of that equity rule, the district is now facing a surplus of $657,358, of which it needs to have a plan to spend at least $358,000, according to the Department of Public Instruction.
The latest idea, which will likely get a trial run after spring break in the district, is universal free breakfast. The project would start at the four elementary schools – Waller, Cooper, Winklers and Lyons Center – and then be evaluated for the district’s other school for the 2016-17 school year.
“We’re trying to be creative on what we can spend it on,” said Ruth Schenning, the district’s business administrator.
Right now, the district receives more than $600,000 in state aid each year. That, according to Schenning, is more than half of the revenue for the food service program.
Lose that money, she said, and “we’d have to replace that by increasing the meal price.”
However, the government also mandates that any surplus in the food service fund must be spent on food service, and that the district must have no more than three months operating costs on hand. In the past, that has included kitchen remodeling jobs and new equipment purchases.
As the School Board Finance Committee explored options March 6, one question kept coming up – why does the district need to spend the money now, with potential facilities’ changes coming down in the pike?
In short, the district may not have to. Schenning said she is planning on requesting an exemption from the annual meal price increase. The next step is the universal free breakfast. She also explained that having a plan in place – and explaining the current, in-progress facilities study – may temporarily placate the DPI.
The free breakfast would provide a nutritionally balanced meal – per DPI regulations on what students must have for grains, proteins and fruits.
“We have certain constraints we need to work with,” said Kathy Combs, the Aramark Food Service Director for the district. Some of the items she brought to Monday’s meeting include mini cinnamon buns (specially made with a lower sugar count), packaged cut apples, a 4-ounce container of orange juice and cheese sticks.
But while everyone eventually agreed that trying the program out made sense, especially from the standpoint of having students properly fed at the start of the school day, there were concerns the district would be starting a program it wouldn’t be able to fund in the future.
“We’ve started a program we know will never go away,” board member Phil Ketterhagen said.
However, as the meeting went on, most of the objections fell by the wayside, and the vote by the Finance Committee to approve the trial at the elementary schools moved forward.
It was also approved by the school board Monday night.
The free breakfast – which will be served in the classrooms at Waller and in the cafeteria at the other three schools – will start April 4, the day students return from spring break.
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