Associated Press

Rising food prices are leading to more expensive school lunches across North Dakota.

"The food prices that we're seeing this year are above and beyond anything we've seen before," said Linda Schloer, director of child nutrition and food distribution programs for the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction. "Especially the foods that schools serve, milk and those staples."

Last summer, an informal survey found that about half of the state's 200 school districts had increased school lunch prices or were planning to, Schloer said. Prices for many foods have risen even higher since then.

"I think (districts) are finding this year it's gotten to the point where they can't hold back (on price increases) any longer because they're going to start going into the red," Schloer said.

Deb Laber, food service director for Fargo public schools, said the district's food prices have risen about 8 percent this year and she expects a similar rise next school year. She plans to recommend to the School Board that breakfast and lunch prices rise 5-10 cents next school year.

Grand Forks schools nutritionist Julie Tunseth said food costs are the highest she has seen in 17 years. The district's costs are up 8-10 percent, and officials are considering boosting the price of an elementary school lunch 15 cents and high school meals 30 cents next year, she said.

Schloer said an average elementary school lunch in North Dakota costs about $1.50, a junior high or middle school lunch about $1.65 and a high school meal about $1.70. In many school districts, those costs will be moving closer to the $2 mark in the coming year, she said.

About one-fifth a school's food comes through a federal government program. Schools get a certain value of food based on the number of students who eat. Schloer said that if the price of the food the government buys increases, the amount of food a school gets for its allotted value goes down.

Schools also have to pay additional food transportation fees because of high fuel prices, she said.

Many schools are putting stricter limits on the amount of food students get for the price of one meal through such measures as eliminating second helpings, Schloer said. Some also are cutting out "extra" foods such as Jell-O that do not contribute toward government-mandated nutrition standards.

"I'm really expecting schools to bulk up their menus more with foods that are filling and cheap," Schloer said.

She said schools are evaluated on nutritional standards every five years, but the department will step in and work with a school if there are complaints or worries expressed by parents or school officials.

Three-fourths of the schools that were formally evaluated last year met all nutritional requirements, she said.