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RALEIGH — School lunch programs across the state, including Guilford County's, are struggling to pay for costs associated with new standards for more healthful cafeteria food.

Who should shoulder the increased costs? Join the discussion at the Debatables blog.

Of the 115 school systems in North Carolina, 87 school lunch programs are running budget deficits. The remainder will follow soon, said leaders with the School Nutrition Association of North Carolina .

"We're about to be in severe trouble," said Cynthia Sevier , who leads Guilford County's school lunch program

Guilford has a $26 million budget. Now, Sevier said, the program is "somewhere under $1 million " over budget. That money will have to come from county taxpayers or the state.

School lunch programs are funded by federal grants and money collected locally. North Carolina is one of the few states that do not help pay for school lunches, association officials said.

In 2005, the General Assembly passed standards that limited the amount of fat and sugars in school lunches. The first wave of those changes will go into effect for elementary schools throughout the state this year.

Middle schools and high schools are due to follow soon, although some school districts such as Guilford County are already making more healthful meals available to older students.

But the legislature never funded those requirements.

"Eating healthier costs more money," Sevier said.

The new requirements, combined with rising fuel, staff, food and equipment costs, have combined to put a strain on school nutrition programs.

She said the bulk of revenue came from selling supplementary food items — often high in fat and sugar — that the new standards now shun.

Traditionally, neither county commissioners nor school boards have put money into school lunches.

But Sevier said her program will have little choice but to ask the school system for help if the General Assembly does not come through with funding.

School lunch programs made a similar request of the General Assembly last year, but budget writers rejected a $15 million request.

This year, falling tax revenues and increasing demands mean there is even less money to go around.

"I'm going to keep trying to convince my cohorts on (the appropriations committee) that we can pay now or pay later," said Rep. Doug Young, a Scotland County Democrat who helps write the budget.

Giving children healthful food and helping to establish good eating habits will avoid Medicaid and other health care costs later, he said.

One of Young's colleagues on the Appropriations Committee is Rep. Maggie Jeffus , a Guilford County Democrat.

"We're going to try our best. We realize there is a need," Jeffus said. "But money is scarce."

Sevier said the cost to produce a lunch has increased from $2.68 a year ago to approximately $3.11 this year.

"Federal monies and student lunch money are not covering the cost," Sevier wrote in an e-mail to the News & Record.

To combat rising costs, Sevier said, schools employ a cycle menu to control inventory and waste, allocate labor hours based on the meals served and repair equipment for as long as possible.

"We're going to try to make it work, and the district's committed to providing healthy meals for our students," Sevier said.

"We really want some help from the state."

Staff writer Morgan Josey Glover contributed to this report.

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com

Contact Dioni L. Wise at 373-7059 or dioni.wise@news-record.com