Not only is there no such thing as a free lunch, the end of Nebo School District's 65 cent lunch may be near.
Phil Argyle, Nebo director of operations, said a planned decrease in the amount of commodities the Federal government offers school districts will force Nebo to pay for more items, including butter, peanut butter, flour, some meats, cheese and milk. Government supplies are running low, he said.Argyle speculated that commodities made available by the government could be cut as much as 75 percent. To offset the $200,000 to $250,000 needed to replace those products, parents may be asked to pay an additional dime for each meal their children eat.
Elementary students would pay 75 rather than 65 cents; high school students would pay 85 instead of 75 cents.
"We have done everything we could to keep costs down the last few years," Argyle said.
"A few years ago, our food service went into the red $30,000, so we took a careful look at how we could save money. We figured if we were going to compete with outside contractors we better start acting like them."
Argyle said Nebo's operation has much in common with McDonald's hamburger outlets. A large percent of the food service workers are temporary employees who are released when demand for lunches drops (usually because nice weather lures students off campus).
"That way, we don't have to pay salaries of people who aren't needed for production," Argyle said. Another cost- and labor-saving measure, he said, is to prepare lunches for several schools at one location, then transport them. The district serves about 10,500 lunches a day, he said.
These strategies have made Nebo the only Utah school district he knows of that doesn't have to subsidize its lunch program, Argyle said. He also said that cost-saving has allowed the district to cut the price of lunches twice in the past five years, once by 5 cents and once by 10 cents.
About 25 percent of low-income families in the Nebo School District take advantage of free or reduced-cost lunches, Argyle said. The free lunches, sponsored by the federal government, would be unaffected by Nebo's possible cost increase, he said. The reduced-cost lunches could have a price increase proportionate to that proposed for a standard lunch.
Argyle said he wouldn't expect much of a decline in purchases with a 10-cent increase. "Our lunch is still the best deal in the state," he said.
More information on the decline of free commodities and increased cost will be presented at the July meeting of the Nebo School Board. A decision on whether to increase prices should be made at that meeting, Argyle said. *****
(Chart)
Projected prices
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL HIGH SCHOOL
School district 1988-89 1989-90* 1988-89 1989-90*
Nebo 65(CT) 75(CT) 75(CT) 85(CT)
Granite 70(CT) n/a 75(CT) n/a
Alpine 80(CT) 85(CT) 90(CT) 95(CT)
Provo 85(CT) n/a 95(CT) n/a
Davis 85(CT) n/a $1.00 n/a
Washington County $1.00 n/a $1.25 n/a
Source: Nebo School District