The overview
The proposed increase of $0.20 was presented to the board of trustees on June 5 by Assistant Superintendent for Financial Services David Johnson.
CISD increased its lunch prices by $0.75 cents in the 2023-23 school year, which was the first increase since 2017.
“The district has gone years at a time before increasing [lunch prices], so we thought to stay in step with increasing costs we would increase meal revenue on an annual basis, rather than wait several years,” Johnson.
The costTrustee Hannah Smith asked if last year’s price increase caused families to drop out of the program. Johnson said participation stayed the same and generated a “good” amount of revenue for the district.
Also of note
CISD does not participate in the National School Lunch Program, Johnson said. With federal funds the program operates in public and private schools, and provides low-cost or free lunches to children.
“We have the flexibility of not being limited by some of the stipulations that come with federal strings,” he said. “We’re a self-funded program.”
The impact
The proposed increase would create $71,000 in additional revenue for the district, Johnson said.
“Our child nutrition [program] has done a really great job in generating revenue,” Johnson said. “We’re really trying to come out in a net positive income scenario, so we can fund some of their capital needs and not have to take that [money] out of a bond.”
