Madison School District looks into starting own lunch program

They’re fed up with the feds. Madison School District is investigating the idea of ditching the widely used federal school lunch program and creating its own. If it did, Madison School District would be the first in the state to do so.

Dave Keck, the district’s food services director, said the idea came after he learned the district would have to raise school lunch prices 10 cents a meal to stay in compliance with federal requirements. This comes after raising prices 25 cents a meal last year for the same reason.

“It was a little bit frustrating,” said Keck. “I lost lunch participation attendance last year due to a price raise, and now I will probably lose more.”

Keck said the idea is still in the very early exploratory stages, and that nothing is final or official in any way.

The district still has a lot of factors to look into including how the change would affect the districts discounted and free lunch program. Much of the funds for the discounted lunch program come from the federal government.

If any changes do occur, they won’t happen for at least several months, and must go through multiple approval processes.