Parents should expect to pay more soon for their child to eat lunch at school, under a plan making its way through the state Board of Education.

Education officials are seeking to change rules that govern lunch prices so that schoolchildren will potentially pay half of what it costs to prepare a school lunch. Currently, they pay a third.

The cost of preparing each lunch averages about $4.20, so it's conceivable that students may have to pay more than $2 to eat a hot meal at school. That's a sharp increase from the $1.25 a day that students spend now.

The latest proposal is yet another sign of the public school system's struggle to make ends meet. Officials say the change is necessary so the DOE can respond quicker to rising food prices and pending budget cuts.

"The bigger the piece we have to spend on food, the smaller we have to spend on everything else," said Randy Moore, assistant superintendent of business services.

"We don't get more money (from the state) just because food prices have gone up," he said.

While the majority of BOE members support the plan, they say they are also concerned with what higher lunch prices could do to family bank accounts.

"This will no doubt have an effect on families. This isn't an easy decision," said Donna Ikeda, BOE chairwoman.

"If budgets continue to get cut, we don't really have much of a choice," she said.

Next school year is the earliest that prices could rise, officials said. That's because the plan requires a complicated rule change, which will need the governor's signature and a long public hearing process. That process usually lasts at least a year.

SUBSIDIES LAGGING

Food service is heavily subsidized by the state and federal governments, but school officials say those subsidies have not kept up with the rising cost of food.

For instance, federal reimbursements — currently about $3.02 a day for students receiving free lunches — only increase about 3 percent a year. However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the School Lunch Program, has said the cost of food is expected to be 11 percent to 15 percent higher this year.

Meanwhile, current administrative rules only allow the DOE to raise lunch prices every two years. And officials are only allowed to charge one-third of the average cost for a lunch over the previous three years.

Those rules, officials say, prevented the DOE from responding to increased prices.

The DOE spent about $27 million just for food on school campuses last year and officials predict the cost is likely to be more than $30 million this year.

"The method that is currently being used only allows us to use the average of the past three years (of lunch costs)," said Glenna Owens, school food services director. "Food costs are increasing so rapidly. It's not giving us the flexibility to match what's happening with inflation."

But DOE officials note that while the administrative rules set lunch prices at one-third of the cost to produce a lunch, state law actually allows the department to charge half.

"Essentially, what we're asking is to change the rule so that it is following the state statute on so-called full-price lunches," Moore said.

BREAKFAST MAY BE NEXT

At $1.25, Hawai'i has one of the lowest lunch prices in the nation, Owens said. Nationally, the average price is about $2.25.

"School districts in Alaska are charging more than $3," she said.

Most school districts on the Mainland have self-sufficient meal programs, meaning they don't receive state subsidies. Hawai'i is unusual because its school lunch program receives state funding.

"We're not making money. We're always losing money, because we're never charging the full cost to produce lunches," Ikeda said.

It's not just lunch prices that could go up. Officials are proposing that the DOE get the authority to raise the price of breakfast, too.

Students who eat breakfast on campus pay 35 cents, even though it costs the DOE an average of $1.76 to produce a breakfast. Breakfast prices have not increased since 1981.

"Everyone knows the cost of food has gone up," Owens said. "I think the public understands that we're going through the same situation that families are going through with their regular groceries."

DIFFICULT DECISION

During the past school year, 68,833 students received free or reduced-price lunches in Hawai'i public schools.

Nationally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is silent on how much school districts can charge for meals. It does, however, outline the maximum that states can charge students from low-income families who qualify for reduced-price lunches.

According to the USDA, school districts can only charge 40 cents for a lunch and 30 cents for a breakfast if a student qualifies for reduced prices. In Hawai'i, the DOE charges 20 cents for a reduced-price lunch or breakfast.

"The department has not maximized on what the USDA allows," Owens said.

Board of Education vice chairwoman Karen Knudsen said students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches would be largely unaffected by the rule change. But she said she fears lower-middle-class families would bear the impact of higher prices.

"I am always hesitant to raise prices," Knudsen said. "I know it's a hardship, but on the other hand, I'm not sure what the answer is."

Knudsen said she supports the rule change, but would not support the Department of Education charging the maximum amount immediately.

"We have to do something. I don't know that we can continue to absorb those costs. We can't continue to do that," she said.

Knudsen also said she'd like the DOE to explore ways to make cheaper lunches.

"I'd like to look at why it's costing us $4," Knudsen said.