School Board: Meal price increase approved

Students in Brainerd Public Schools will pay an extra nickel for breakfast and lunch for the 2017-18 school year.

The Brainerd School Board Monday night set meals prices for the coming year, approving a 5 cent increase in meal prices and leaving milk prices unchanged.

The prices break down as such:

• Elementary school breakfast: $1.75,

• Elementary school lunch: $2.70,

• Secondary school breakfast: $1.75,

• Secondary school lunch: $2.80,

• Adult breakfast: $2.80,

• Adult lunch: $4.10,

• Half-pint of milk, all levels: 45 cents.

The district sets meal prices each July based on a financial review of the food service fund, said Steve Lund, director of business services for the district.

Since 2007, the total number of meals served has declined, Lund said, but the number of meals per student has remained steady. The district's percentage of students receiving free and reduced lunch has declined slightly, he said, but these meals still account for 60 percent of the total meals served.

"We're actually increasing participation there," Lund said.

Over the last 10 years, meal prices have increased an average of 1.9 percent each year, Lund said. However, he pointed out meal prices don't increase each year. The preliminary budget for the 2017-18 school year shows a projected surplus of $70,313 in the food service fund, which would bring the fund balance to $466,997.

Increasing meal prices by 5 cents will result in about $20,000 in additional revenue for the food service fund. Meal prices did not change from 2015-16 to 2016-17. Since 2013, the district has reduced expenses per meal by 33 cents, or nearly 9 percent.

Meals are grouped into three categories: free, free and reduced and paid. Each category of meal contains federal and state subsidies. About 40 percent of the district's students receive free and reduced lunches, according to the Minnesota Department of Education.

In other food business, the board approved milk bids and bread bids for the 2017-18 school year.

Kemps and Dean Foods both submitted milk bids, with the board approving the low bid from Kemps. Prices ranged from a little under 19 cents per carton of Grade A skim milk to a little under 69 cents per carton of lactose-reduced milk.

The district serves 1 million cartons of milk each year, Lund said. The milk bids cover school years 2017-18 and 2018-19.

Pan-O-Gold Baking Company was chosen for the bread bid because of the company's package size, availability and low price, Lund said. Bimbo Bakeries also submitted a bread bid, which didn't meet the district's specifications on package size. The Pan-O-Gold bread prices for 2017-18 are the same as the bids submitted for the 2015-16 school year.

The district's bread needs mostly include breads and buns, Lund said, with some of the larger schools baking their own baked goods. The bread bid is used to fill in gaps for the smaller schools, he said, and to provide breads the larger schools don't bake.

The school district partners with Pierz Public Schools on milk and bread bids, Lund said.

In other business, the board:

Received a report from Cori Reynolds on district volunteering for the 2016-17 school year. Overall, 1,404 volunteers contributed 22,800 hours of volunteer time to the district. At the state estimated rate of $26.40 per hour of volunteer time for 2016, resulting in $601,920 in total savings to the district.

Each volunteer fills out an annual application and submits to some form of a background check, Reynolds said. Volunteers also sign in and out at the building office when they volunteer, she said, so the district has a record of their time. Volunteers perform a variety of duties in the classroom, she said, and also assist during field trips, book fairs and special events.

For the previous year, the district saw an overall increase of 9.5 percent in the number of volunteers, with a 6.4 percent decrease in the number of volunteer hours.

"We had more bodies, more volunteers in our buildings," Reynolds said. "But less overall time."

Approved the resignation of Tom Ringhand, career and technical education teacher at Brainerd High School, effective June 26.

Approved a sponsorship for the Brainerd Public Schools Foundation Distinguished Hall of Fame in the amount of $1,750.

Approved annual dues for the Minnesota School Boards Association in the amount of $12,159 for the 2017-18 school year.

Approved handbooks for the 2017-18 school year for each of the buildings in the district.