Area school districts are being forced to use reserve funds to pay for subsidized student meals while waiting for federal and state leaders to craft and pass workable government spending plans.
Due to the federal government shutdown, the Bureau of Food and Nutrition recently notified school districts that the organization is only able to process breakfast and lunch subsidies through the end of September.
That might strain district budgets, but it won’t stop schools from providing meals to students, according to Spring Cove Superintendent Betsy Baker, who noted there “is no change on the student end.”
On the district’s end, though, money is being taken out of the fund balance to keep food on the table.
The district is choosing to use its fund balance to avoid taking out a loan because, while the district will eventually be reimbursed for the outlay, they would not get reimbursed for any interest paid on a loan.
“We haven’t taken out a loan, and we don’t want to because it adds to our expenditures, and we’re making an effort to keep our expenses down as much as we can,” Baker said.
Having to pay interest on a loan makes it “more difficult to balance the budget, which makes it more likely that we will have to raise taxes because we have spent down money we had before and had to pay interest,” she said.
If the budget impasse at both the state and federal levels continues indefinitely, districts will have to rethink their own budgets.
The Williamsburg Community School District is taking funds from the cafeteria balance to pay for subsidized lunches, which accounts for 48% of their student population, business manager Kalie Zabrosky said.
Schools regularly get reimbursement for free and reduced meals, but due to the federal shutdown, the district is only getting funds from the state side.
“That would be the same for all schools,” she said.
Like Williamsburg, Tyrone Area School District’s cafeteria receives split funding, specifically “58% of revenues federally and 12% from the state,” business manager Faith Swanson said in an email. A la carte services bring in additional local revenue as well.
During the shutdown, the district is relying on reserves for cafeteria operations, Swanson said.
In Cambria County, Penn Cambria School District received the notification that there is “sufficient funding to process and pay all valid, submitted claims for July, August and September 2025,” business administrator Jill Francisco said.
Right now, she noted that the district does not have any additional information to provide about October and future months, but they will use their food service fund to fuel the program in the meantime.
Claysburg-Kimmel’s cafeteria fund is currently being used to pay for all lunches while the district waits for the shutdown to end, business manager Dena Burket said.
If the federal shutdown continues, Burket said the district will “temporarily use money from our general fund to ensure meal service continues without disruption.”
Paula Foreman, Altoona Area School District community relations director, said the district has yet to encounter any issues funding school lunches since the paperwork was recently submitted for their August reimbursement “with no problem.”
The district also uses Met Culinary as their food service provider, so “we’re still operating with that food contract” amidst the government shutdown, she said.
Spending restrictions
School districts are not only dealing with the federal shutdown, but the state budget impasse as well.
Schools such as Penn Cambria and Williamsburg are currently implementing a spending restriction on non-essential items.
Altoona Area School District also finds itself in “critical spending” mode because of the state budget, Foreman said, adding that they won’t spend money on anything deemed unnecessary.
“The longer the state budget goes unapproved by the legislators, the harder it is for school districts and nonprofits,” she said.
A federal shutdown and state budget impasse would make “daily operations increasingly difficult for school districts like Claysburg-Kimmel,” Burket said.
While the district is doing “everything possible to shield classrooms from disruption,” she said “extended delays in funding could impact the district’s ability to meet payroll, pay vendors and sustain essential programs.”
Swanson said Tyrone’s financial situation is currently “stable,” because they are — like surrounding schools — taking out of their reserves for the time being.
“We are losing investment income as we use our reserves which is lost revenue that we will not be able to recover,” she added.
“Even the state not passing their budget has a bigger impact because that’s where most of our funding is coming from,” Baker said, adding the district is “watching what we’re spending, how we’re spending it.”
Peering into an uncertain future, Burket said the shutdown and budget impasse can “force difficult decisions about expenditures, hiring and program timelines.”
Francisco said hiring freezes and program cuts at Penn Cambria “have not been discussed at this time; however, we will continue to have these discussions as the budget impasse progresses.”
With a looming shutdown and frozen state budget, many schools are unsure when they will receive necessary funding.
“Hopefully, (the government) will work through it, and it gets resolved shortly,” Foreman said.
Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414.
Meal funding runs dry at area schools
