Lunch may cost more for District 158 students

Kids, don't bother with that pile of change on your parents' dresser.

Next year, go straight for their wallets and take out two crisp bills.

Huntley Unit District 158 is likely to raise the price of its paid lunch from $1.75 to $2.

The board seemed receptive to the price hike Thursday and is scheduled to vote on the lunch price July 17.

The district last raised its lunch price from $1.50 to $1.75 in 2001.

District 158's interim Chief Operating Officer Dave Jenkins said Thursday the district expects its food costs to rise 14 percent next year - which amounts to just about a quarter.

But there's more to the district's food service program than paid lunches.

Like other districts, District 158 essentially subsidizes its paid lunches - which run at a loss - with revenue from other sources, like a la carte items.

Superintendent John Burkey said Thursday that though the district is losing money on it paid lunches, the food service program as a whole is running a surplus.

"We will probably still be losing money on our (paid) lunches" with the 25-cent hike, Burkey said. But he added, "Our program will still be in the black."

The program showed a surplus from the 2003-04 school year to the 2006-07 school year.

The 25-cent increase could generate more than $175,000 in additional revenue for the district - and leave the program with a roughly $500,000 surplus.

If the district keeps the price of its paid lunch at $1.75, costs would have to rise more than 40 percent before the food service program would run in the red.

Squeezed by rising food and gas costs, surrounding districts have already raised their lunch prices.

Even with the increase, District 158's lunch price would still be low compared its neighbors.

This year, Community Unit District 300 raised its price from $2 to $2.50, while Elgin Area School District U-46 upped its price from $2.10 to $2.40.

Lunch: District's lunch prices still low comparatively