The Durham Public Schools' fuel cost increases made national news today, with Chief Operating Officer Hank Hurd being interviewed in an article for The Wall Street Journal.
We previously have written about the difficulty the schools have had budgeting for next year in light of growing fuel prices.
The increases have also affected the cost of food for student lunches, something the WSJ article mentions, and that I blogged about in May.
Because we have changed our blog software, I've had to paste the text of the original post here (thank goodness for the cache!):
Thursday, May 22, 2008
School breakfast, lunch increase a quarter next yearComing to your computer screen, live from the Durham school board meeting, officials just announced that they'll raise breakfast and lunch prices next year by 25 cents across the board.
That will take lunches for grades 6-12 from $2.10 to $2.35 and lunches for grades K-5 from $1.85 to $2.10. Breakfasts for all grades will increase from $1.35 to $1.60.
The rising cost of labor and food contributed to the decision Thursday night to adjust next year's meal prices.
The changes come as a result of financial analysis that shows in 2005-06, the schools' nutrition fund -- about a $12 million budget -- reported a net profit of $83,276. A year later, the schools' nutrition fund suffered a net operating loss of $292,630.
The projected loss for the 2007-08 school year is at least $650,000, according to school board documents.
Concerned about the gap, board member Steve Martin made a motion to increase lunch prices by 20 cents more than the board had originally planned for next year.
Increasing meal prices by a quarter will increase revenue by about $250,000, said Hank Hurd, Durham's chief operating officer.
This is $1 more a week, about $4 a month. Maybe a small increase for most families, but coupled with the rising cost of living in general, this could be part of a change in our economy that is slamming many families, one quarter at a time.
Posted at 08:54 pm by Samiha Khanna in In the Schools Bull's Eye
