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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

`Contract’ Would Bite Into Hot Lunch School Meal Prices, Programs May Be Affected By Gop’s Proposed Welfare Reform Bill

It’s called the Personal Responsibility Act, and it could mean that parents will be responsible for paying more money for school meals.

The act, part of the Republican Contract with America being debated in Congress, would reform welfare and roll all federal food programs into a single grant administered by states.

In addition, federal school lunch subsidies would be eliminated for students who can afford to pay and money for child nutrition programs would be cut 17 percent.

As a result, area school districts might have to increase daily lunch prices by 25 to 50 cents for students who pay. The districts currently charge between $1 and $1.75 a meal.

The free-lunch program for low-income children probably would not be affected.

Smaller school districts might eliminate their hot lunch programs altogether and switch to cold lunches or a la carte offerings, which might not be as nutritionally balanced as hot lunches.

Proponents say the bill would eliminate bureaucracy and make people responsible for the cost of government services.

It also would remove the federal government from a program that should be run by states, they say.

“Obviously what works in New York may not work in Washington,” said Ken Lisaius, press secretary for U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Spokane, who has signed the Contract with America. “It cuts out a lot of the bureaucracy. I don’t think you’re eliminating lunch for children. You’re taking money from federal programs, and giving it to states to distribute.”

The entire Personal Responsibility Act would save taxpayers an estimated $40 billion over five years, largely through cuts in welfare and bureaucracy.

Between 2,000 and 3,000 of the 16,000 students who buy lunch every day in Spokane School District 81 probably wouldn’t if prices increased, even by 25 cents a day, said Richard Skinner, district food service director.

“They say it’s a Contract with America,” Skinner said. “We kind of feel it’s a Contract on America as far as the kids are concerned.”

Students who drop the hot-lunch program either would skip lunch or bring food from home, he said.

“I probably would pack my daughter’s lunch rather than pay the extra money,” said Kathi Onoday, food services director for Nine Mile Falls district, whose daughter attends the high school.

The hot-lunch program was started in 1946 to give all children at least one hot, nutritious meal a day.

If prices increase, as many as 80 school districts in Washington - including Nine Mile Falls, Freeman and Mead - might drop the meal program because more than 60 percent of students would be charged full price, said Betty Marcelynas, director of child nutrition for the Superintendent of Public Instruction in Olympia.

With no subsidy and fewer students buying lunch, districts might not have the money to prepare meals.

“Any increase would be pretty detrimental,” said Gail Reoch, food service supervisor for Idaho’s Boundary County, which serves about 850 lunches a day. “We’ve kind of run in the red as it is.”

Mead School District serves about 4,500 lunches a day, and between 80 percent and 85 percent of students would pay full price under the Personal Responsibility Act.

“If we increase our prices by even a nickel, we see a change in parents’ attitude,” said Catherine Abbott, supervisor of food services at Mead. “If we go up by 50 cents, how much are we blowing ourselves out of the water?”

The district is waiting to see what Congress does before estimating any increases, Abbott said.

Nine Mile Falls serves about 700 lunches every day, and 81 percent of those are students who would pay full price.

The amount of money the district would receive for its free and reduced-price lunches under the proposal might not justify the paperwork and program personnel costs to continue the hot-lunch program, said food services director Onoday. The school board would make that decision, she added.

The Freeman School District serves about 650 lunches, and 78 percent of those are to students who would pay full price.

Valley school districts serve enough free and reduced-price lunches to justify continuing with the hot-lunch program, according to the state. They might have to increase prices, however.

The cuts also could hit day-care centers. Money dedicated for daycare meals and snacks would go the states, which would decide how to spend it.

Shannon Selland, who runs a center at her home for up to 12 children, said any cuts would force her to raise her prices or go out of business.

“It’ll just be a crisis,” Selland said.

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