The Perimeter Primate: Paving the Way to Privatization of the School Lunch Program
This is the first guest post on The Perimeter Primate by Caroline Grannan . Grannan was an editor at the San Jose Mercury News for 12 years. Currently she contributes to a number of Internet sites dealing with education and schools. She is a San Francisco public school parent, advocate, and volunteer and has followed education politics locally and nationwide.-- P.P.
On Revolution Foods
I’m a veteran of several years on the frontlines of the battle to improve school food. So of course I read the press coverage, including a sudden explosion of glowing news reports on a company called Revolution Foods -- a progressive-sounding effort to privatize school meals.
Almost all of that coverage is by confused reporters who don’t understand the economics of funding school meals and who buy Revolution’s misleading claim that its meals cost only a little more than the federal funding for school meals. Here’s a quote from a Sept. 30 Washington Post story about Revolution: “The price, between $2.90 and $3 per lunch, is not much higher than the current $2.68 the government pays.” The assumption is that the school district or the student has to come up with a mere 22 to 32 cents. But that’s misleading, because actually, the $2.68 government reimbursement also has to cover labor and other costs of running a school cafeteria.
This is the first guest post on The Perimeter Primate by Caroline Grannan . Grannan was an editor at the San Jose Mercury News for 12 years. Currently she contributes to a number of Internet sites dealing with education and schools. She is a San Francisco public school parent, advocate, and volunteer and has followed education politics locally and nationwide.-- P.P.
On Revolution Foods
I’m a veteran of several years on the frontlines of the battle to improve school food. So of course I read the press coverage, including a sudden explosion of glowing news reports on a company called Revolution Foods -- a progressive-sounding effort to privatize school meals.
Almost all of that coverage is by confused reporters who don’t understand the economics of funding school meals and who buy Revolution’s misleading claim that its meals cost only a little more than the federal funding for school meals. Here’s a quote from a Sept. 30 Washington Post story about Revolution: “The price, between $2.90 and $3 per lunch, is not much higher than the current $2.68 the government pays.” The assumption is that the school district or the student has to come up with a mere 22 to 32 cents. But that’s misleading, because actually, the $2.68 government reimbursement also has to cover labor and other costs of running a school cafeteria.