Canyon school district board raises meal prices, honors Paul Blake

CANYON — The Canyon Independent School District (CISD) opened its regular meeting Monday with a moment of silence honoring school board trustee member Paul Blake, who died over the weekend.

Newly appointed board president Jennifer Winegarner stated that the board had not decided on how to replace Blake and would address his position at a more appropriate time. Blake's wife of 49 years, Christy, and his daughter attended the board meeting. Winegarner said that the agenda was shortened in remembrance of Blake, to allow time for board members and the community to grieve his passing.

Regarding the vacancy, Winegarner said that the board has several options that it will take up at a later time.

During Monday's meeting, Place 2 board member Katharyn Wiegand was sworn in for her new term after that announcement. Wiegand has served since 2011.

Board votes to increase school meal prices by 25 cents

One of the measures passed by the board unanimously was increasing the school meal regular prices by 25 cents, which is higher than recent increases of 10 cents in 2019 and 2020. Reduced and free lunches would not be affected by this increase. While food pricing has continued to rise with inflation, the board has not made a change to school meal prices since 2020.

Heather Wilson, CISD assistant superintendent of business and operations, spoke about the meal cost increases.

“Canyon ISD has not increased meal costs since 2020. We all understand the inflation factor that has been going on. Just this last year, the consumer price index has gone up 8.25%,” she said.

Wilson said the district lost federal funding from the “Kids Fed Act,” which has expired.

“That allowed us to get 40 cents per meal for lunch and 15 cents for breakfast, and we lost that funding this fiscal year, in addition to the price index going up and the cost per meal going up,” Wilson said. “So, the district felt like they had to increase the cost of the meals this fiscal year by 25 cents.”

She also said that students who receive reduced lunches will receive free breakfast. Wilson also emphasized the importance of families that may qualify for free or reduced lunches.

“It is very advantageous for families to fill out these applications. We get additional state funding that helps supplement tutors and things with those dollars, and the families get the reduced and free lunch prices," she said.

Wilson said this reduced pricing for the I Connect Program and kids in the after-school program get an additional rate reduction. According to Wilson, every family that applies for free or reduced lunch gets entered a drawing for a prize.

With the approved increase in prices, the cost of school meals in CISD will be as follows:

• Lunch - current price; (new price)
• Elementary - $2.35; ($2.60)
• Secondary - $2.55; ($2.80)
• Breakfast - current price; (new price)
• Elementary - $1.55; ($1.80)
• Secondary - $1.55; ($1.80)

Other items discussed include speech pathologist needs, impact from property tax legislation

A measure to continue to employ Radar Speaks to supplement the district’s need for speech pathologist support was passed. The district, like many others nationwide, has a critical shortage of staff in these roles. Currently, the district has two openings for these positions.

“We have been trying to hire speech pathologists since March, and they are just really hard to find,” Wilson said. “That is not something that is just for Canyon ISD; that is across the state of Texas. So, we had to go out for contract to fulfill those services of the school districts.”

Wilson also updated the board on the upcoming impact of the state legislature’s proposed changes to property taxes, which will compress district funds. Wilson said that current debt that has been passed in bonds will be held harmless, matching state revenue for the amount the district loses in property taxes. Wilson said that under the new tax rules, the district will have to acquire more funding through new bonds, which will raise taxes on district residents.

“If you look to the future, when we must go out for future bonds acquiring more debt, that new obligation under the new tax rules will hurt the district tremendously, but it will really hurt our community," Wilson said.

She said that homeowners that are worth higher than $100,000 are going to have to pick up a larger percentage of the new debt.

“If you think about it now, we will have to raise our taxes higher to pay off the same amount of debt because there is less value to tax,” Wilson said. “It is not so much that it will hurt our school districts. We still have to pay the debt, but we will have to go to the community to ask them to do that for us. So, in a sense, that is how it affects the school district.”

While homeowners may pay less in property taxes under the new legislation, the effect on school district funding will most likely raise taxes for those same homeowners.

'An incredibly hard night'

Following the meeting, Board President Winegarner spoke about the passing of Paul Blake.

“This is an incredibly hard night for our trustees, community and Paul’s family,” Winegarner said. “It is a heavy loss, and it is going to take some time to grieve. We are so thankful for the contributions that Paul has made to our kids here at Canyon ISD as well as the community at large. Our hearts break for his family, and our prayers are lifted for his entire family. Tonight, we want to be thankful and honor his service.”

The funeral for Blake will be 2 p.m. Thursday at Hillside Christian West Campus in Amarillo.