The School Committee will not be seeking additional money from Town Meeting to cover a projected shortfall in the school lunch account.
School Budget Subcommittee Chairman Paul Samargedlis said the group voted unanimously last week to hold off on a request for more money to see if there are other ways to fund the lunch program.
Town Meeting convenes tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Coakley Middle School.
Officials are projecting a $78,000 deficit in lunch accounts by the end of the fiscal year. The shortfall is traceable mostly to rising food prices. The school lunch program is a self-sufficient program outside of the schools' main operating budget.
Superintendent Ed Quigley told the committee two weeks ago that, based on the most recent bids coming back from vendors, food prices are going up anywhere from 3 percent to 25 percent. Quigley suggested a compromise solution: asking Town Meeting for $50,000 while raising the remaining money through a 10 percent increase in school lunches.
Currently lunches in the elementary schools cost $1.75, and lunches at the middle and high schools are offered at $2 and $2.25.
Without asking for Town Meeting's assistance or finding another revenue source, Quigley said lunch prices would have to go up 30 to 35 percent to make up the deficit.
But the school board is not ready to go down that path.
"The committee is working hard on this problem and we're trying to find a way to fund this in-house," said Samargedlis. "This is something we take very seriously and we're not going to go to Town Meeting to ask for more money unless it's an emergency."
Committee member Bill Plasko Jr. has said the committee should be asking the federal government to step up assistance in the lunch program.
Samargedlis said the budget subcommittee is also looking at potential savings in salaries from retiring teachers that may help bridge the gap. Teachers hired to replace retiring teachers or other veteran teachers leaving the system generally make less money, thereby resulting in a surplus in the salary accounts.
"There may be some money there," said Samargedlis. "I'm not saying we may not have to come back in the fall (to Town Meeting to ask for money), but we're going to do everything we can to see if we can do this in our own budget."
Daily News staff writer Brian Falla can be reached at 781-433-8339 or bfalla@cnc.com.
