The budget for the Greenwood public school district is suffering because of a decrease in enrollment, according to the district's chief financial officer.
Steve Loden walked the Greenwood School Board through a proposed budget for the upcoming academic year at a work session Thursday.
"It's a serious situation. Can we handle it? I think we can," he said.
Loden is concerned about funding for cafeteria services, part of which comes from student lunch purchases. The service now has fewer children buying food.
"The more people we feed, the better off we are," Loden said.
Loden believes Greenwood has one of the best cafeterias in the state. It has run in the black for about 20 years, he said.
The board's chairman, Margaret Clark, said a child in the school system had heard that the cafeteria was going to be short on money and could afford to serve only salads.
Children do not need to be concerned with eating, she said.
The cafeteria profits mainly from the sale of "extra food items," Loden said. Those items are approved by the state Office of Child Nutrition.
New healthy food standards are going to be put into place for the 2007-2008 school year. Loden believes the new menu may also affect the cafeteria's revenue.
"There's a lot of us that believe the kids aren't going to eat what they tell us we have to serve," he said.
Regarding composing the overall district budget, Loden said, "This is stressful, y'all. This comes from the decrease in students."
Superintendent Leslie Daniels told board members to provide their budget suggestions to him in writing before Tuesday's board meeting.
