Fillmore Unified School District

The first Fillmore School Board Meeting of the 2015/2016 school year focused on food services, the summer construction projects and a budget update.

Suzanne Stamp, Director Child Nutrition Services, gave a presentation on the meals served to students throughout Fillmore Unified School District (FUSD). FUSD participates in the National School Breakfast & Lunch Program which was established by the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act and the Breakfast Child Nutrition Act in 1966.

Breakfast and lunch are free to all students attending FUSD regardless of their family income. The District qualified for a federal program called Provision 2 back in August 2012, which allows schools to establish low income claiming percentages (when the threshold is met) and thus serve meals at no charge to all students (not just those that qualify) for a four year period.

Provision 2 option in the federal School Breakfast Program and National School Lunch Program allows for schools to reduce the paperwork and simplify providing school meals. It reduces application burdens and simplifies meal count and claiming procedures; schools do not have to collect or process school meals applications, keep track of meal categories, or conduct yearly verification. Verification, when needed, can include low family income and/or receiving a State entitlement such as SNAP (formerly known as food-stamps). Eighty-three percent of FUSD students fall into federal guidelines as low income which qualifies FUSD for Provision 2.

Under Provision 2 schools are required to collect application, records and tracks meal categories and conducts verifications only once every four years, at most. Once a school is qualified for the program, meals are served to all students at no charge so there is no need for cashiers and little oversight.

At the end of each four year period, the State of California may approve a four year extension if the income level of the schools population remains stable. FUSD pays the difference between the cost of serving meals at no charge to all students and the federal reimbursement (reimbursable meals $2,472,865 per academic year).

In 2010/2011 school year free breakfast was added and in 2013-2014 free Supper Meal Program served 2:45 p.m. during the after school program was added.

The district serves 439,155 breakfasts in the classroom, before school starts and at nutrition break, along with approximately 534,450 lunches and 67,162 suppers at five schools during after school program. Yearly 1,040,767 meals are served at FUSD at a cost of roughly $2.33 per meal or $4.70-$7.00 per student per day.

The 9 1/2 months of meals comes at a cost of $2,519,567. This equals to $838 per student, per academic year for breakfast-lunch and $1,260 for breakfast-lunch-supper.

Of that $2.5 million about half, $1,244,778, is spent on food, $675,457 goes to salaries, $317,370 benefits, $103,300 supplies, and $169, 807 on non-category others.

FUSD's breakfast in the classroom program has grown since it started 2010-2011 when 190,136 breakfasts were served. Last school year's numbers were 439,155 which is a 131% increase in participation.

According to Stamp the National School Breakfast Program served 13.1 million breakfasts daily during 2012-2013 school year and chances are those numbers have grown also.

Another agenda item was a 45 Day Budget update by Assistant Superintendent Andrea McNeill. McNeill reported a $99,736 shortfall of Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) out of Sacramento. What it could mean is a cut in the future monies needed to update the technology needed.

Superintendent Dr. Adrian E. Palazuelos also gave an update on the roofing, asphalt, sidewalks and playground construction projects at San Cayetano and Piru Elementary Schools stating they are about 90% completed and are expected to be done before school starts. Also, the security cameras have been installed at schools throughout the district and four will be changed from a 180 degree view to a 360 degree view. The district is working in cooperation with both the Fillmore Police and Fire Department for suggestions on placement and where they are most needed for safety. Palazuelos was asked when everything would be completed and operational and replied "We're pretty close....I don't want to give a definite date."