CCSD raising school lunch prices - FOX5 Vegas - KVVU
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The price of school lunches throughout the Clark County School District are going up a dime beginning next school year.
Currently, lunch at elementary schools is $1.75 and at middle and high schools it's $3.
Both will go up 10 cents in the fall and every year after that until the district reaches the federal mandate of an average of $2.51.
The school board was forced by the federal government to raise the price of school lunches.
Under the Health Hungry Free Kids Act of 2010, districts must implement increases of lunches until reaching the USDA minimum average of $2.51.
The regents recognized now isn't the greatest time to add what equals more than $40 a year.
"We can't afford to eat the increase, but what we have to do is see how we can be fair and reasonable," said school board member Lorraine Adleman.
The federal mandate coincides with a push to make lunches healthier, which costs more money.
"The entree is actually going to have to be smaller, but the servings for the fruits and vegetables will be larger," said CCSD nutritionist Virginia Beck. "So the students will continue to get healthy food, but it will be a little different composition."
With childhood obesity a growing concern, schools and the USDA guidelines have come under fire for high-calorie, high-starch menus with little nutritional value.
But changes are being made, even though it's moving slowly.
"Our main goal is feeding these students nutritious meals," Beck said. "We'll continue to make sure it's food that they like, that they enjoy, but that's good for them."
The bump in price does not have any impact on students receiving free and reduced lunch.
Here in Clark County, that program is used by nearly 60 percent of the students.
Breakfast prices are not being increased.
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