Hays CISD school lunch prices could increase should school board trustees vote next week to raise the price of a cafeteria meal by 10 percent. At Monday night’s meeting, the Hays CISD board of trustees sat in the Lehman High School cafeteria, surrounded by folded-up lunch tables, and heard a presentation about the possibility of raising lunch prices for the 2017-18 school year. In 2010, Congress passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which increased price paid per meal by the federal government to make free and reduced lunch more widely available in schools. In return, the government wanted the school districts to maintain the lunch prices to support the overall program and provide healthy choices and solid offerings, district Chief Financial Officer Annette Folmar said. A stipulation of the act requires participating districts to increase meal prices if the price charged for the meal is less than the difference between the price paid per meal by federal government rates for free and paid meals. District staff did their yearly calculation to determine the mandatory amount the federal government will require them to increase lunch prices by to meet the required ratio. That number is 16 cents, Folmar said, but they are required to increase the rate by a minimum of 10 cents, so that is the action district staff recommend to the board. The district also increased lunch prices by 10 cents for 2016-17 school year. District 5 trustee Esperanza Orosco asked how an increase in lunch price will affect students in the district who may struggle to pay for lunch. Folmar said the district keeps them in mind. “What we really, truly strive to do in the lunch program is to get these families on the free and reduced lunch program,” she said. “One of the hardest parts is the stigma of being on the free lunch program. In all districts in Texas, but especially in Hays CISD, we take great pain to make sure that a student is never, ever identifiable to any other student at all.” Hemphill Elementary, with just about 90 percent of students relying on the free or reduced lunch program, has the highest rate of all Hays CISD schools, district staff said. “Our goal is to get these kids food,” Folmar said. “They’re not going to be successful on any test, they’re not going to learn and their discipline will be all over the map if they’re not able to eat.” If a student is unable to pay for their lunch, and alternative meal of a cheese sandwich, a plate from the salad bar and a vegetable are made available for them, which Folmar said is not restrictive as some districts. The school board is scheduled to vote on the lunch price increase at their April 27 meeting in the Lehman High School cafeteria.