Submitted article
For the first time in three years, students of the Bucyrus City Schools will be seeing a small increase in daily lunch prices. The Board of Education approved a ten-cent ($.10) increase during its regular meeting June 26.
The increase is a result of more stringent guidelines and requirements for student nutrition from the USDA and Ohio Department of Education.
“We have done everything we can to keep our prices competitive with, and in many cases cheaper than, other districts in the area,” Food Services General Manager Lorie Pennington said. “This small price increase will still keep us competitive with other county school districts, while also helping us fulfill USDA requirements.”
In addition to stricter student nutrition guidelines, the increase is also a result of the Paid Lunch Equity Requirement from the USDA. This requirement states that the price of regularly paid student lunches must be equal to or greater than the reimbursement for a free lunch.
“This USDA requirement forced us to increase our student lunch prices by a quarter in 2011,” Superintendent Kevin Kimmel said. “We were hopeful that another increase would not be required, but it is and we are pleased to keep our competitive edge with other districts in the county.”
For more information about student lunch price changes, please contact Lorie Pennington at 419-562-5355 or email lpennington@bucyrusschools.org.