Tri-County board hears warning on negative lunch fund balance, engages NESAC for analysis

District staff told the board the school lunch fund is operating with a negative balance and the administration is pursuing steps to understand and address the shortfall.

During the financial report, a staff member said the school lunch fund showed a negative balance of $10,909.83 and that prepaid food (student account balances vs. owed amounts) was negative $7,439.15. The district has partnered with NESAC (Northern Indiana Education Service Center) to provide a detailed financial breakdown—meal costs by building, staffing costs, and per-meal cost estimates—to identify where the district might be losing money and guide corrective action.

"We were looking for a food service director, so we partnered with them," the staff member said, explaining NESAC will produce a breakdown the district requested. The staff member said secretaries had also begun sending letters to parents to reduce negative student account balances.

The report included a recent transfer of $80,869.74 from the education fund to the operations fund; staff emphasized this transfer is part of regular internal accounting and that other funds (referendum, rainy day, debt service) are being monitored as part of broader financial goals. The district noted a rainy-day fund target of roughly 12% of levy and a desire to maintain a one-year cash balance in the referendum fund in case of future referendum outcomes.

Board members asked about variability in meal participation and were told NESAC’s participation tracking will help explain day-to-day swings (field trips or large groups can cause sharp drops on some days). No additional board action was taken beyond the data requests and family outreach described.