May

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Fort Collins High School to Lose Food Court

May 4, 2008 |  Tagged , , , , , |

FCHS has had one of the few vendor-supplied cafeterias in the country according to an article at The Coloradoan. The reason for this change is the increase in students that qualify for reduced or free lunches. That’s hardly the problem or the real reason for this change.

Having the independent vendors meant Fort Collins could not participate in Poudre School District’s food services program, which receives federal funding for students who are eligible for free and reduced lunches - a federal indicator of poverty. That left the high school to subsidize the cheaper lunches.

My daughter graduated from FCHS in 2007, and my son is currently a sophomore there. Next year my younger daughter will be attending, and in 2010 I’ll have my youngest three all there. My daughter and son really like the food court idea, and my younger kids were looking forward to it.

Problem #1: The federal government shouldn’t be involved in education. Period. The federal Department of Education should be completely defunded and eliminated. Taxation for education should occur at the local level. This would significantly reduce the amount of money spent on overhead, and get the money to the classroom where it belongs.

The Poudre School Disctrict had to compenstate FCHS $20,000 last year to cover the losses. The number of students on the free lunch program has risen from 4-5% to 22-23% since 1995. The solution? Go back to the District food program so they can receive the federal subsidies.

Problem #2: This shows why federal involvement is a bad idea. The local school made a choice in which food program to provide, but because it doesn’t meet federal standards they can’t get funding. Too much control at too high a level creates these kind of problems, and once they’re in place it’s nearly impossible to undo.

FCHS is going to spend $800,824 to remodel the cafeteria. This will increase the seating area from 189 to 400 and provide a cozy atmosphere including flat-screen TVs to give it a modern restaurant feel.

Problem #3: The $800,000 remodel cost divided by $20,000 per year in current costs means it will take 40 years to recoup the cost. Only a government agency would think that was a good return on investment. But then, that doesn’t really matter does it? Since the money is coming from the State Education budget, it’s free. Well, not all of it comes from the state budget, which leads me to…

Problem #4: $300,000 of that money will come from a voter-approved bond. This is one reason why I always vote against bonds for school funding. We’re always told the reason they need the money is for teacher salaries, books, and other direct classroom needs, but it seems to end up elsewhere.

This isn’t to say construction isn’t needed, but requests for funds should clearly state that and not try to play on the heart strings of the voters. Construction is supposed to begin this summer, but could be delayed until the summer of 2009. Why the delay?

Problem #5: Obtaining permits at the state level for construction could take an entire year. This isn’t uncommon. The amount of bureaucracy involved in these situations is mind-boggling.

I’m sure there are other problems that I haven’t addressed, but the primary issue here is too much government involvement at the federal and state levels. Schools ought to be able to determine how they provide food for students, and not have certain methods (such as private vendor supplied programs) disallowed.

My expectation is that many kids will go back to getting their lunch offsite, especially since there are more choices near the school than before they started the program. This will increase traffic in the area during lunchtime in an area already too congested.


Comments



4 Comments so far

  1.    McKenzie on September 11, 2008 8:06 am

    HOW MUCH DID THE DAMN FOOD COURT COST IN THE FIRST PLACE?! Seriously, you’d think the internet would have this sort of information for Highschool Government students to complete a mandatory project. Geesh, people.

  2.    Night Twister on September 11, 2008 12:17 pm

    The food court was part of the original design of the school, so it’s not broken out anywhere. In any case, it’s not important what the original food court cost, but how much money was spent on the remodel. They would have saved money if they’d just subsidized the previous system with the use of vouchers.

  3.    A.L on September 19, 2008 9:46 pm

    Im a student of FCHS. While this add-on was expensive, the school shaves costs with a special modern design which means it uses less eletricity- Its a pretty green school. It has skylights, so remington hall is almost non existent of lighting. Almost all classrooms have windows and Much less light than my previous schools. Also, The cafeteria has to be larger- the school district is moving 9th graders there in 09.

    Its a massive school, largest in the city, it needs a cafeteria to accomadate a maximum of 1800 population,its capacity (Not all at once, but there will be more kids every lunch period).

  4.    Night Twister on September 20, 2008 3:15 pm

    Good comments, A.L. - Thanks.

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