How many lunch meals are served by DCPS and D.C. charter schools every day?
Our public schools serve about 70,000 lunch meals each day. [Councilmember Cheh asked: “How can this be when we do not have that many students.” DCPS enrolls about 45,000 students and the charters teach another 30,000, for a total of 75,000, and approximately 5,000 students eat lunches provided outside of the federal school lunch program.] QUESTION: “Healthy Schools” would provide schools with a 5-cent bonus for meals that include locally produced foods. How much would this 5-cent incentive cost? This number will depend on the amount of schools that participate. However, our estimate is that it will it cost around $500,000 per year. QUESTION: Incorporating local foods into school meals raises some obvious questions, such as seasonality and whether our local agriculture can supply enough food to feed the District’s school children year-round. Do you foresee a day when most or all of the food served in the city’s schools comes from local sources? The experts say that there is more than e
