N&O: Healthy meals turn school lunch into a money loser

The french fries offered separately from the main meal for $1.50 went quickly during a recent lunch period at Wakefield High School's cafeteria. Many students were not enthusiastic about the $2 meal designed to meet certain nutrition standards - a choice of a slice of pizza, a beef and cheese slider or a spicy chicken sandwich with servings of green beans, salad or fruit.

Oyinkan Olusesi, a sophomore at the Raleigh school, didn't eat that day. She said $2 is too much to pay for a school cafeteria meal when more appealing food can be had elsewhere at competitive prices. "A lot of people are going to McDonald's because of their dollar menu," she said.

What Olusesi may not know is that her school cafeteria is losing money on every $2 meal it can entice students to buy. The Wake school board recently raised the price to $2.25, but that still won't cover the food program's cost.

Cafeteria manager Patricia Cuda does not want to sell the large order of fat-laden, salty fries, but she says she has to offer such a la carte items to make her budget.

"I hope it's not totally going to be turned into a McDonald's atmosphere," she said. "We try to give everyone as much healthy food as possible. I would hope that the government can kick in and give everyone free lunch."

In 2006, the state legislature required schools to serve more fruits, vegetables and whole-grain food, and fewer dishes with lots of fat and sugar. However, it did not kick in extra money for the higher costs of the more nutritious foods.

School districts implemented the changes, but "at an extreme financial loss," said Marilyn Moody, senior director of child nutrition services for Wake County.

Among the state's 115 school districts, 67 are losing money feeding their kids. About 45 are in such bad financial shape that they would not be able to handle a "catastrophic event" such as having to replace a freezer that costs thousands of dollars, said Lynn Harvey, who oversees child nutrition for the Department of Public Instruction.

The Legislative Task Force on Childhood Obesity, formed to devise strategies to slim down the state's youth, considered the role of school food programs. It recommended that the legislature, which convenes May 12, implement measures that would allow school food programs to get more federal dollars and to devote more of their revenue to quality food.

For now, districts are looking for cheaper ways to get better food on to lunch trays, including grants to pay for fresh fruits and vegetables. Some schools are growing their own gardens. Most are barely surviving.

"What's happening in school districts across the nation is people are scratching their heads and deciding what the priorities are for their program," Harvey said. "Is the purpose to provide nutritional, affordable meals? Or is the purpose to generate revenue? That's where we find our districts now."

For the more about this story, continue in out next post or contact Stan Chambers, Staff Writer for the N&0 where this info was compiled from,