Beaverton School District Cuts Some Free Meals For Students

BEAVERTON, OR — With federal aid disappearing, the Beaverton School District will start charging many students for meals again, the district board voted Monday night.

The board voted unanimously to approve a plan that will revive a system under which students can be charged for meals and also allow schools to increase the price of breakfast from 15 cents to 20 cents.

The changes will go into effect next school year.

For the past two years, the district has provided free meals for all students under a COVID-19-related program of the United States Department of Agriculture.

Charity Ralls, who runs the district's nutritional services, told the school board Monday that without the program, the district will have to return to the system in place before the pandemic: students pay based on eligibility. That means many students will pay full price for meals.

Ralls' department is required to be self-sufficient.

"Breakfast is an expensive meal to offer, as most of the food items are commercially purchased," Ralls' department said in a report to the board. "We have experienced shortages of many of our breakfast items this school year and expect that trend to continue."

Complicating the issue is the fact that the district has not raised the price of breakfast since the 2016-17 school year, Ralls said. That left the average price of breakfast in the district as much as 33 cents cheaper than the average price of meals offered in the Portland, Tigard-Tualatin and Hillsboro school districts, Ralls added.