The Hawaii Department of Education serves up about 18.5 million meals per year to students. However, the DOE’S Food Services Branch is projecting a $20 million shortfall for fiscal year 2024. The DOE cites inflation for milk and food, insufficient federal meal reimburements and unchanged school meal prices.
HONOLULU (KHON2) — The Hawaii Department of Education serves up about 18.5 million meals per year to students. However, the DOE’S Food Services Branch is projecting a $20 million shortfall for fiscal year 2024. The DOE cites inflation for milk and food, insufficient federal meal reimburements and unchanged school meal prices.
“We are going through a rift, because the meal counts have gone down in certain schools and as a result we no longer can carry that expense,” said Curt Otaguro, Hawaii Department of Education Deputy Superintendent of Operations.
The DOE said, during the 2018-19 school year, food and milk costs were $40.4 million and in 2022-23 it skyrocketed to over $67.1 million. The DOE adds, the current meal prices and federal reimbursement rates are just not enough to cover costs. Now, it’s asking for $20 million in emergency funding from the Legislature.
“We haven’t increased school lunch fees in a while. We’re looking at offsetting some of that even though it’s a challenging time to do such a thing, but we need to mitigate. Some of our losses are in excess of $54 million now,” Otaguro said.
State lawmakers said this emergency funding is crucial for the DOE so costs don’t spill over to parents or caregivers.
“This investment is necessary, because we don’t want to compromise on the school prices, we don’t want to see this go up,” said Rep. Trish La Chica, (D) House Committee on Education Vice Chair. “So while it’s a short term solution and we’re feeling this shortfall, we really need to look at long term solutions.”
Meanwhile, the USDA will conduct a school meal cost study for the 2024-25 school year to consider higher reimbursement rates for the state.
The education conference committee recommended the measure be passed with amendments. The bill now heads to the Senate and House floors for votes.