By Sarah Nagem
snagem@salisburypost.com
During these tough economic times, more local families are asking schools to provide their children with free or discounted lunches.
Almost 52 percent of students in the Rowan-Salisbury School System were receiving free or discounted lunch in mid-October, said Libby Post, director of child nutrition for the schools.
That compares to 49.5 percent of Rowan-Salisbury students who got free or discounted lunch in October 2007.
“It was not a surprise at all,” Post said of the increase. She cited recent layoffs at Freightliner and other local companies and the “general state of the economy” as the reason for the higher number.
“It means our services are needed now more than ever,” Post said.
The numbers at Kannapolis City Schools are even higher.
As of Oct. 21, almost 57 percent of students were receiving free or discounted lunch, said Anne Treanor, director of child nutrition for the school system.
That compares to almost 61 percent in early November last year.
Treanor said those figures don’t tell the whole story, though.
“Three weeks makes a difference,” she said of the comparison gap from last year to this year. “We have kids applying all the time.”
Kannapolis usually has a high percentage of students who qualify for free or discounted lunch. Because of that, Treanor said, it’s hard to gauge how much of an effect the recent economic strain is having on the school lunch program.
School lunches are mostly funded by the federal government. Post said the percentage of students who don’t have to pay to eat does not drastically impact the program.
The government reimburses school systems $2.57 for every student who gets free lunch, Post said. It pays $2.17 for every discounted lunch and 24 cents for every paying student.
But it costs Kannapolis schools $2.90 to produce each lunch, Treanor said.
To make up the difference, schools sell snacks to students and look for the best deals on food prices, she said.
Families are already shelling out more money this year for their children to eat lunch at school.
In the Rowan-Salisbury system, elementary students who don’t qualify for free or reduced lunch pay $1.85, a 10-cent jump from last year’s price. Middle school and high school students pay $2, an increase of 15 cents from last year.
Kannapolis students in kindergarten through sixth grade who don’t get free or discounted lunch pay $1.90 ó 20 cents more than last year, Treanor said. Students in seventh through 12th grades pay $2, which is also a 20-cent jump.
Post was hoping the state would dole out funds this year for schools’ nutrition programs. That would help ease the strain of this year’s increase in employee salaries and rising food prices.
But in a year of a tight state budget, schools didn’t get the extra cash.
“We definitely need state funding,” Post said.
In the Rowan-Salisbury system, Koontz Elementary had the highest percentage of students receiving free or discounted lunch by mid-October ó nearly 87 percent. Knox had the highest percentage among middle schools with about 73 percent, and Henderson Independent School had the highest rate ó about 69 percent ó of the system’s high schools.
Numbers are generally higher in the elementary schools and decrease in the middle and high schools.
Many high school students don’t apply, Post said, maybe because they have jobs.
Treanor and Post said the number of students who receive free or discounted lunch will likely increase throughout the school year.
Parents can apply for the service at any time.
“We encourage them to do that,” Post said.