Hot Lunch Program

The Genesee School hot lunch program is operated under guidelines from the Idaho Department of Education and the United States Department of Agriculture. School districts must comply with numerous rules and regulations in order to participate in child nutrition programs. In addition to complying with health department regulations, just as a restaurant must, school food service programs must meet nutritional guidelines set by law.

The federal reimbursement to school districts for serving a lunch is
$ .24 for full-price lunches, $2.17 for reduced lunches and $2.57 for free lunches. Students who qualify for reduced lunch pay $ .40. Elementary students pay $2.45 while secondary students pay $2.75. There is no federal reimbursement for adults who pay $3.45. The Genesee School has 14.3% of its students receiving free and/or reduced lunches.

The current cost of serving one lunch is $3.54. We are currently losing $ .71 per meal. This is not a new phenomenon. We have been losing money in our food service programs during nineteen of the past twenty years. School lunch programs are supposed to break even. We have reduced labor 46%, we have analyzed and refined the menu, we have worked hard to change the atmosphere in the cafeteria and yet we still continue to lose money.

During the time we have taken these steps, we have seen food prices continue to increase and student enrollment decrease. The participation rate in our food service program is right around 50%. The only way we will ever break even is to increase the participation rate to between 70-80% of all students. Various steps have been taken to achieve this, and we have increased the percentage of participation but decreasing enrollment has mitigated the financial benefits.

We are not alone. Other school districts in Idaho are also experiencing difficulties in breaking even in their child nutrition programs. It is estimated our loss this year will total $22,000 plus an additional $8,000 which must be paid out of the M&O fund for food service employee benefits required by law. The question for the District is how long can we sustain these type of losses in the current economic situation. $30,000 pays for half a classroom teacher.