Schools sold 28,401 cases of non-carbonated Coca-Cola products in lunch lines, 8,000 more than they expected to sell when the contract took effect Jan. 15, 1999.

The cafeterias earned a $100,000 profit on those sales, and Coke also pays the school system a $1.65 commission for every case sold. That translated to $46,861 last year.

While vending-machine sales commissions outpaced the previous year’s, they didn’t come close to the mark officials expected when they signed the deal. Schools garnered $104,367 from those sales, less than half the estimated $269,956 yearly income.

“That’s the one place the contract is lagging in,” Gene Miller, Rowan-Salisbury’s assistant superintendent for operations, said Thursday. “It’s down considerably ... not where we thought it would be.”

But Miller, who negotiated the contract with Coca-Cola in 1998, included a clause that says the company will guarantee at least 60 percent of the approximately $1.35 million in vending revenue expected over five years, or about $800,000.

He calls that a “no-lose situation” for the school system. And there are lots of other wins in the agreement, which specifies that only Coca-Cola products are sold in Rowan-Salisbury schools.

Coke made the first of two scheduled $100,000 payments just after the contract took effect. The bulk of the money went toward textbooks.

The company paid the system $2,000 for scholarships last year, and will pay $8,000 more for scholarships during the life of the contract. The system also got $4,000 for advertising in school programs and yearbooks.

Coca-Cola also paid for educational software and two new scoreboards and donated its products for school events and fund-raisers. Nine schools raised a total of $29,101.

While disappointing, vending-machine sales commissions bested 1998 sales by more than $26,000. That money goes directly to the schools where the products are sold.

Bruce Jones, vice chairman of the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education and chairman of its budget and finance committee, likes the numbers.

“It’s making money for the school system, and I would say I’m very pleased with the first year’s results,” Jones said. “And hopefully we’ll continue to see that increase over the next years of the contract.”

East Rowan High School took in the most money in vending-machine commissions last year with $21,136. That’s more than twice the commissions at Salisbury High School, which was second highest, and nearly equal to all middle schools combined.

Although the vending machines have timers that don’t allow sales during instructional hours, Miller said East Rowan has placed numerous machines in locations people use during off hours, like the school’s track, where many residents walk in the evening.

The commissions are discretionary funds, meaning the individual schools can use the money for any purpose. It’s the same with the school system and the commissions on case sales. Miller said most of that money is being used to buy or rent mobile classroom units.

Miller said he believes the high volume of cafeteria sales, along with an increase in prices, cut into the vending-machine sales. But, he said, the first year of a contract is not the best indicator of how subsequent years will go.