School lunch hike is
hard to swallow

The House Education
Committee says no to a proposed
$1.25-$1.50 price

By Pat Omandam
Star-Bulletin

A bill that quietly paved the way for the Department of Education to raise school lunch prices from 75 cents to $1.50 to help offset budget shortfalls has hit a pothole in the House Education Committee.

Lawmakers instead will ask education officials to have each school conduct an audit of its lunch program to ensure students eligible for free or reduced lunches still qualify for them and are not abusing the system.

"I would say that would be the better way for the Department of Education to save money," said House Education Chairman David Stegmaier (D, Hawaii Kai).

The committee yesterday removed language in House Bill 3452 that would have set the maximum price of lunches from one-third to one-half the cost of preparing the meal.

At present, it costs the department $2.69 for each meal, and students from kindergarten through grade 12 are charged 75 cents. Adults pay $2.50.

Based on the $2.69 cost, the bill would have cleared the way for the department to ask the Board of Education to raise lunch prices to $1.34. The measure then required the price be rounded off to the nearest 25 cents, which could mean $1.25 or $1.50.

The changes would have taken effect July 1. The last time lunch prices were increased was in 1993, when they rose from 45 cents to 75 cents.

The department in October 1995 failed to get board approval to raise lunch prices from 75 cents to $1.25.

Although increasing the cost of lunch affects tens of thousands of students and their parents, a department representative was the only person who testified at a hearing yesterday.

Deputy Schools Superintendent Stanley Seki said the department had planned to ask the board this summer to increase lunch prices so it could generate $1.5 million in additional money to help offset the department's supplemental budget shortfall.

Seki said the department will try again next year to get the measure approved by the Legislature.

Stegmaier amended the bill because of reports that one public school was able to save $2,000 after reviewing its lunch program and finding students who no longer qualified for a free lunch or a reduced price of 20 cents.

Stegmaier said that the department needs to have its books in order before asking state lawmakers to give it leeway to increase lunch prices.

The measure now goes to the House Finance Committee and Chairman Calvin Say (D, Palolo), who originally introduced it.