Lawrence elementary students in the cafeteria line are the latest targets in the public school district’s quest for cash.

The price of a basic school lunch hamburger, salad, green beans and milk, for example will be $1.60 per day when classes start in August. The 10-cent increase followed a year in which the Lawrence school board declined to raise prices.

	District 2001-02 2002-03proposed Lawrence $1.50 $1.60 Auburn-Washburn $1.55 $1.80 Blue Valley $1.45 $1.75 Eudora $1.60 $1.80 Manhattan $1.65 $1.85 Olathe $1.65 $1.75 Seaman $1.60 $1.70 Shawnee Mission $1.50 $1.60

Scott Morgan, board president, said across-the-board meal rate increases were necessary in 2002-2003 to keep the district’s $4 million food service operation solvent.

“The food service is a self-sufficient program. It’s designed to stay that way,” Morgan said.

The 10-cent increase adopted unanimously by the board is the same price increase proposed for elementary school lunches in the Olathe, Seaman and Shawnee Mission districts.

Blue Valley is preparing to adopt a 5-cent rate increase on top of a 25-cent boost enacted by its school board in January.

Among school districts contacted in a random survey, Manhattan students are expected to pay the highest elementary lunch fees next school year. A 20-cent increase there puts the daily price to $1.85 per meal.

Paula Murrish, the Lawrence district’s director of food services, said fee increases in 2002-2003 were necessary to counter rising prices charged by vendors.

“We have seen an increase in food costs this past year of about 7 to 8 percent,” she said.

Rate increases in the Lawrence district’s elementary schools ranged from 6 percent for lunch to 11 percent for breakfast.

The price for a basic lunch in Lawrence secondary schools will climb to $1.85, up 15 cents from a year ago.

Prices for meals in the federal reduced-cost meal program won’t change from 30 cents for breakfast and 40 cents for lunch.

Prior to the board’s approval of a new meal fee Monday, the idea of putting the district’s food-service business out to bid with private companies was discussed and dismissed.

“Our experience is that when we do outsource things, they are more expensive,” Morgan said.

Austin Turney, the board’s vice president, said he worked in a Connecticut school district that tried to save a few thousand dollars a year by hiring an outside firm to manage cafeterias.

He said hiring a national firm resulted in a lower employee morale and a decline in food quality.

“I thought that was the greatest mistake the district made in 10 years I was there,” Turney said.