The implications of rising fuel costs extend beyond drivers. Even the cost of school lunches will spike this fall as food and gas prices have risen and federal subsidies have not kept up with the added costs, according to an article on MSNBC.com.

School districts across the country are feeling the pinch. From the MSNBC article:

• “With the delivery and food prices going up, we’re just at a point where we need to move prices up to stay above the red line,” said Mike Gilbert, superintendent of the White Oak Independent School District in East Texas, where a half-pint of milk will cost 5 cents more in the fall and breakfast will go up 15 cents to 25 cents depending on the grade level.

• In the Utica, N.Y., schools, lunch will cost 25 cents extra next term. “We’re going to have an increase of $28,000 for all of our milk products and an $8,000 increase for all of our bread products,” said Karen Pulice, food service supervisor for the Utica School District.

• Students in Olathe, Kan., will pay 10 percent more for lunch after the Olathe School District’s meal program lost money this year. For Aaron Jack, a student at Frontier Trail Junior High School, that means “I won’t be able to eat as much or eat what I usually eat in a regular day. I’ll have to cut down.”

As MSNBC pointed out, federal law requires schools to provide hot meals to all students, including at a reduced rate or even free. With the added fuel and food costs and no extra money from the federal government, schools are poised to lose between $5 million and $8 million every day they operate to feed their students.

During a time when parents are already facing an increase in costs of their own, some school districts are even considering firing staff to balance the books. Again, from MSNBC:

“I have to operate the school and the budget and the personnel we have to make it work.” (Doniphan-Trumbull district in Nebraska superintendent Kirk) Russell said. “We just have to make it work.”

This article should be passed along to every single person who has ever opposed paying taxes. No one likes to pay taxes, but what is the alternative? Kids too hungry to study? Ugh!