Canandaigua is one of the many schools in New York State
that runs their food service system in a self-supporting manner. On
top of that, the food service operates independently from the general
school fund. This means that the cafeteria must be run like a business
- making money only off the sale of meals, vending machines and through
some reimbursement from the state and local governments. These reimbursements
are lower than they used to be in the seventies and eighties, making
it hard for the school to succeed only on the other sources of income.
The school does receive a yearly increase in reimbursements from the
national government but they do not cover the general increase in price
on every venue in this day and age.
With the rising costs of food, living, gas, employee benefits, and
pretty much everything else, the cost of making a single lunch also
rises accordingly. However, the school cannot raise the prices proportionally
to the increase in cost because people complain and stop buying, and
since there has been no increase in reimbursement by the state in twenty-five
years, this causes the school some problems.
Along with the higher average costs of producing a lunch, the school
now cannot make money in one of its most effective ways because of
the statewide wellness program. Historically, foods like sugary drinks
and chips turn a high profit. The school can no longer receive this
profit or the state will cut funding to the school. Because of the
wellness policy, the school lost one of its greatest forms of income
for the cafeteria.
In the Canandaigua School District, there are 1,890 students who
buy lunch. Nineteen percent of these get a reduced lunch price for
free
or for twenty-five cents. Strangely enough, the school actually profits
off reduced lunches because New York State covers the cost of the
lunch and then some. Producing lunches on a tight budget when the
state does
not pay for most of the lunches sold causes many difficulties to
the school. According to Director of Food Services Sharon Bogue, “We
already have a tight budget to run on as we have to plan the entire
meal on less than a dollar. This means that the entree, two side dishes
and milk must all be less that $1 . . . that also includes the paper
products and condiments.” Making a lunch for less than a dollar
is no longer working out well for the school and they have begun
to examine the situation and consider their alternatives.
A business cannot run with lower profits and higher costs. Bogue
points out that the school is “running the program as a business; decreased
sales and increased costs leave a business in the red.” To pull
the school out of this red zone the Board of Education has formed a
sub-committee to examine solutions. So far, many options have been
considered; according to Bogue “they could recommend any number
of things including the installation of a food service management company,
hiring a consultant, investing in new equipment or remodeling of kitchen
space. This decision is up to them, at this time they are mainly gathering
information.” One thing is certain though; we can expect to
see changes in the cafeteria and food service within the district
in the
coming year.
With new leadership in Washington it is entirely possible that the
school could see increased funding for their programs in the near future.
This is the year that congress takes another look at school nutrition
programs on a nation wide scale, so maybe the answer to the cafeteria
situation lies in Washington and not in the district.
Whatever happens, the Board of Education must take this decision very
seriously. The fact that students may have to adjust to different school
food is petty in comparison to people possibly losing their jobs and
livelihoods because of the negative effects of the economy and the
loss of prime source of profit.
