Lunch prices raised for SLV students

On March 15 the Board of Trustees for the San Lorenzo Valley School District voted unanimously to add 25-cents to the cost of school lunches.
According to Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Christopher Schiermeyer the increase was made necessary because of an increase in the cost of food.
“We try to operate the nutrition system in the black so the district doesn’t have to contribute General Fund (money),” he said Tuesday.
Schiermeyer said the district last raised meal prices to their current level — $2.25 for breakfast and $3.25 for lunch — four years ago. Since then the district has had to contribute $30,000, then $33,000 and this year $46,000 to break even on food costs.
He said the price increases correspond to a drop in children needing free and reduced lunch — 23% of district children three years ago and 18% this year.
Rudolph Ramirez, the director of business services with Scotts Valley Unified School District, said his district is also experiencing increased food costs. Breakfast for Scotts Valley elementary school kids costs $2.25 and lunch costs $3.25. For middle and high school students breakfast is $2.50 and lunch is $2.50.
Ramirez said the SVUSD is not considering increasing the price for meals this school year and that the price hasn’t changed in at least three years.
Schiermeyer said he cannot project how costs might rise in the future and that the cost increase approved last week covers the current number of students eating on campus — the district served 20,000 student breakfasts and 42,000 lunches from August to January —and is not meant to predict more students or higher food prices.