Pocono News Section

Higher School Lunch Prices on the Horizon

Higher School Lunch Prices on the Horizon - Thursday, April 24, 2008 at 4:51PM EST

Reported by: Mike Trim
Thursday, Apr 24, 2008 @ 04:51pm EST
Where will the rising costs of food, gas and so many other things stop? Parents could soon see big increases in school lunch prices.

Wyoming Area School District is doing its best to block a possible boost in prices. Sandy Ostrowski's kids go to Wyoming Area schools. She says costs for nearly everything are rising, and hopes school lunches aren't next. " Yeah, my kids buy their lunch all the time here, but they have good lunches. They like the different things they have, so yeah it cost a little more, but hey, everything else right?" says Ostrowski.

School District Food Services Director Janet Boyer agrees. She doesn't want to raise prices, but says the odds are stacked up against her. “Small pennies make big differences in our business," says Boyer.

For the first time in Boyer's career, she's seeing food and milk prices rise at the same time. Boyer says it's costing the district 10 cents more this year to provide one school lunch.

Rising corn costs and fuel costs are too blame. She says the district hasn't passed the cost to the parent, yet. “I’m going to do my best to both keep the high quality of the school meals as they are, but also keep the cost down because the parents need a relief and they need a value," says Boyer.

You're telling me says Gerald Dennis, who's picking up his neighbors kid here at Wyoming Area. "Oh definitely, there's a lot of people that need it, there's a lot of people that need it."

Boyer says more families are buying school lunches this year. She's hoping, and parents are hoping that food costs level out, so school lunch costs don't rise.

The School Nutrition Association says some school districts are raising lunch prices nationwide. Some have even increased prices by more than a dollar.