Avoyelles School District unable to offer free lunch to employeesfor school employees

    It seems there really is no such thing as a free lunch -- at least when it comes to school employees.

The School Board Finance Committee was told that it would cost about $750,000 if the school district expanded the free meal program for students to its employees.

    Board member James Gauthier had asked Food Services Supervisor Jenny Welch to determine whether teachers and school employees could be included in the Community Eligibility Provision which will enable the district to offer free breakfasts and lunches to all students in the 10 district schools.

    Welch said non-student meals cannot be covered under any provision in the Child Nutrition Program. Adults have to pay the full price, which is $5.50 a day -- $1.90 for breakfast and $3.60 for lunch. That’s about $990 per employee for the school year.

    The committee said the district is not able to shoulder that additional cost.

   Gauthier said he was just curious and thought it would be a good extra benefit for employees, if it were feasible.

    The committee was told that the school district collected $668,316 from its 1.75 cents of sales tax in May. That compares to $627,972 in May 2014 -- an increase of $40,344, or 6.22 percent.

    Year-to-date comparison is also optimistic for the School Board. Through May, the board’s sales taxes generated $3,318,866 compared to last year’s total of $3,149,942.

    Finance Director Mary Bonnette pointed out that the January-May total for 2013 was $3,292,162 and for 2012 was $3,220,331 -- somewhat closer to this year’s collections but still reflecting an improvement in the parish.