By Toni Garrard Clay/AISD Communications Specialist
The Athens ISD Board of Trustees on Monday night approved a 10-cent increase for student lunches in order to remain in compliance with the National School Lunch Program. With the increase, elementary students will pay $2.55 for a cafeteria lunch, and secondary students will pay $2.80.
The board also voted to expand no-cost breakfasts to include all elementary students for the coming school year. This past school year, South Athens and Bel Air elementaries, serving pre-K through third grade, offered no-cost breakfasts. With the elementary redistricting taking effect, there will now be three elementary schools — Bel Air, South and Central — all serving pre-K through fifth grade. With that in mind, the board agreed that the extension of no-cost breakfast was worthwhile. The resulting revenue reduction is estimated to be approximately $5,000.
In other action, the board approved renewal of the Microsoft software licensing agreement for the district’s servers and computer equipment. The renewal fee is $20,588, which is $790 less than the prior year.
The board approved the expenditure of $293,919 for instructional materials earmarked for social studies K-12, high school math, and fine arts classes. A state allotment will cover $283,339 of the expenditure, with the remaining balance ($10,580) being covered by local instructional funds.
The board approved the expenditure of $25,692 on College Board AP Exam fees for the 2014-2015 school year. During that school year, the number of exams taken reached 497, which was roughly double the previous year’s count. A grant from the Ginger Murchison Foundation generously covers approximately $20,000 of this expenditure.