Cost of school food to go up for students

TRACY, Calif. — It’s going to cost an extra quarter for a slice of cheese pizza or chicken nuggets at Tracy Unified School District schools next year because of a vote by the board of education Tuesday night.

The board voted unanimously to increase lunch and breakfast prices by 25 cents starting in August for the 2015-16 school year.

The decision will bring the district into compliance with the 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of the United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service, said Casey Goodall, assistant superintendent for business services.

“The California Department of Education, working as the USDA, is concerned the prices are too low,” Goodall said.

The changes also require school food authorities participating in the National School Lunch Program, including Tracy, to make sure that federal dollars are not being wasted on ineligible free and reduced-price meals.

Goodall said the federal government does not subsidize meals for folks who can afford them.

Fifty-five percent of the students in TUSD are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, which is among the lowest in San Joaquin County, Goodall said.

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service issued a memo Oct. 8 directing school districts that charged less than $2.70 for paid lunches to adjust their average meal prices.

TUSD now charges $2.25 for lunch for kindergarten through fifth-grade students and $2.75 for sixth-through 12th-grade students. Breakfast for all grades is $1.