School lunches at Franklin High School and Highlands School will be $4 for the upcoming school year and Pre-K monthly rates will increase 50% in the next three years as part of what were termed necessary adjustments Monday by the Macon County Board of Education.
School Nutrition Director David Lightner said an increase in labor and food costs forced Macon County Schools to raise its lunch prices from $3.75 (kindergarten through fourth grade) and $3.85 (fifth through 12th grade) to $4 for K-12 in 2024-25.
“The continuation of the inflated cost of products and services, along with increases in labor costs have necessitated the need to increase meal prices to adequately fund the school nutrition program,” Lightner’s request stated.
Lightner said Franklin High and Highlands School did not qualify for the Community Eligibility Provision (free lunch program) in 2024-25. All other Macon County schools qualified last year and will remain qualified for the next four years. Breakfast and the At-Risk After School Meal Program remains free for all students in Macon County Schools.
The USDA reimbursement rates for free-lunch students in 2024-25 will be $4.54, with full-paid students at $0.53. As such, Lightner said the $4 rate is reasonable.
“There’s just no other way around it,” Lightner said of his request to the board.
While approval of the rate hike was necessary as the next school board meeting will be the first day of school, board members brainstormed how to pay the difference to give Franklin High and Highlands School students free lunches. Lightner said “on the lower end,” it would cost between $150,000 and $200,000 in 2024-25.
Most WNC counties qualify for universal free lunches as a system. Jackson County decided to spend roughly $500,000 to fund the lunches for the schools that did not qualify in 2024-25. As Lightner noted, Jackson County’s funding took out the application component.
School board member Hilary Wilkes mentioned the opioid settlement funding coming into Macon County as a potential bridge, saying free lunches are a mental health improvement component for kids.
Board member Diedre Breeden asked for a more accurate estimate so the school board could request the commissioners fund the free lunches.
The board unanimously approved approaching the county commissioners to fund the discrepancy between paid and non-paid meals at Franklin High and Highlands Schools for 2024-25.
Wilkes was reluctant to approve the lunch fee hike, noting that prices shot up since universal free lunches during the COVID pandemic ended two years ago.
Pre-K tuition
The board unanimously approved a step-up Pre-K rate hike over the next three years.
The request by MCS Director of Pre-K Brooks Keener was to raise the rate from $500 to $650 a month for nine months in 2024-25. Then in 2025-26 the rate will go to $700 and to $750 in 2026-27. The school employee discount of $100 a month remains.
MCS STEM Director Jennifer Love presented to the school board for Keener, who did not attend the meeting. Love said one of the challenges was keeping up the pay raises mandated for K-12 teachers by the state. Since Pre-K programs aren’t state-mandated, those teaching positions are 100% locally funded.
MCS Superintendent Josh Lynch said the increases were in line and still less than Pre-K in neighboring counties.
Keener’s letter to the board said MCS needs to “seriously consider if we are able to continue being an [N.C. Pre-K] site in the 2025-26 school year and beyond.” Keener’s letter cites the state reimbursement rate for qualifying [financially disadvantaged] students still being $496 a month. Love said this means potentially reducing those 50 spots in favor of more private pay spots to keep Pre-K financially solvent.
Board member Stephanie Laseter asked how many Pre-K teachers there are. The answer was five, with two more coming in August.
Wilkes noted it’s been a while since MCS has increased Pre-K fees and appreciated the staggered increases.
The board also unanimously approved increasing the After School ED-Venture Program rates in 2024-25 from $12 to $13 a day, $60 to $65 a week and $190 to $260 a month. Love, who runs the program, said this is due to state funding being less than it was through the former Child Care Stabilization Grants. Love also warned that rates may need to be raised again in 2025-26 if additional grant funding isn’t provided. When asked, Love said most after-school students attend a couple of days a week.
In other meeting votes, the board approved the revised interlocal agreements with the county for the Franklin High, Highlands School and Macon Middle School track projects. The board previously approved all three in May, but the commissioners had questions and revisions to the documents. Now, both boards have approved the same documents.
During the liaison report, Wilkes said the Guaranteed Maximum Price for the Highlands School project should be presented at the county commissioners meeting on Aug. 13.
Check future editions of The Franklin Press for more from this four-hour, 40-minute meeting including the new stricter attendance rules for Franklin High School, the presentation of the new MCS Strategic Plan and the next steps for the Nantahala wastewater project.