School district considers kitchen, approves 2014 budget

Libby School Board members are studying the benefits of constructing a district kitchen and will discuss the issue during a meeting on August 19.

Right now, the district uses contractors for food service. But last year. in addition to federal reimbursements, the district spent about $68,000 for its breakfast and lunch programs. Of the district’s 1,100 students, about 60 percent or 660 pupils receive free or subsidized meals.

“That’s a lot of money,” Libby Superintendent K.W. Maki said Tuesday, the day after a meeting in which board members voted unanimously to pass the 2013-14 budget.

The general fund budget for the upcoming school year was set at $7.605 million, compared to a budget of $7.697 million last year.

The idea of constructing a kitchen, with costs estimated between $400,000 and $500,000, was brought up less than three months after the community rejected a $350,000 mill levy ballot measure that district officials said was needed to maintain the current level of operations.

Maki said board members will hear a report at the next board meetingfrom Jackola Engineering & Architecture of Kalispell concerning the benefits of having an in-house kitchen with district employees to provide food service.

“We’ve never had a district kitchen,” Maki said. “The areas are food prep areas. They aren’t kitchens.”

Maki said constructing a kitchen would be a big project for the district.

“Of course, there is electrical and plumbing that must be completed,” he said.

Maki said it would be best if the kitchen could be constructed at either the high school and middle school complex or the elementary school.

However, Maki believes there could be a way to make the kitchen revenue-neutral.

“This district kitchen could conceivably pay for itself in just a few years,” he said. “And there is some discussion of providing dinner meals for the district’s already meal-dependent students.”

Right now, the district, through a grant with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is providing breakfast and lunches. Maki said it’s possible that the district may decide to continue providing three meals per day.   

Maki said the district will seek a Quality Schools grant to pay for the kitchen project.

“It’s possible we could see this paying off in five to six years,” he said.

In addition to the kitchen proposal, the district is considering an option for new ductless heating at Libby Elementary School, which has experienced problems with its electric heating system.

“Ultimately, it will be up to the board,” Maki said.

The district’s budget for the upcoming year will be large enough to hire back most of the district employees who were told that more than a dozen layoffs would be necessary to balance the budget if the mill levy request failed.

Due to additional money from the Legislature this spring, the district will be able to maintain higher funding levels than district officials expected when they asked local voters for a property tax increase.

The legislation provided roughly several hundred thousand dollars in additional funding each year to the Libby School District.