Kids, you might want to ask your parents for an increase in your allowance. Because those delicious meals at school are going to cost you a little more next school year.

The Rio Rancho school board voted 4-0 to approve the district’s lunch and breakfast vendor Sodexho’s price increase request. Board Member Divyesh Patel was absent.

This is the second year in a row that Salisbury Steak and other meals’ price tag increases. Rising food and fuel costs are cited by Sodexho for the primary factors in the price increase.

RRPS Superintendent Dr. V. Sue Cleveland reluctantly supported the request.

“I hate to see the increase, especially since it was done last year,” Cleveland said. “But, anyone who goes to the grocery store knows that food prices are going up.”

Elementary school students will need an extra dime to eat lunch as the price increases to $1.85 from $1.75.

Middle school, mid-high and high school students also need an extra ten cents as their lunch cost increases from $1.90 to $2.

For teachers who want to stay at school and eat the “mystery meat” it will cost $2.50, up from $2.30 from last year. With 180 school days, the increase amounts to $18 for the school year.

Breakfast prices are staying stagnant, which are 75 cents for elementary students, $1 for high school and middle school students and $1.25 for adults.

The price increase will generate an additional $62,000 a year and cover the cost of inflation. Sodexho says that over the past 12 years it has managed Rio Rancho’s food services program, the price of paid meals has only increased by an average of 2.2 percent a year, while costs have increased 3.8 percent year over year.

The district raised its lunch prices 10 cents last year as well.

RRPS President Lisa Cour explained that with rising prices, it is necessary to raise school lunch prices.

“The cost of everything from getting the food to the site to purchasing the food has gone up,” Cour said. “It’s just a matter of making ends meet so Sodexho can afford to pay for the lunches.”

The price hike, however, is not as steep as Albuquerque Public School’s recent increase.

There, breakfast will cost 15 extra cents and 20 cents is being added to the lunch bill.

Rio Rancho Finance Director Randy Evans said the district tries hard to keep costs low and that Rio Rancho students are paying less than the average cost of other students who eat lunch in schools operated by Sodexho.

Evans explained that with more students moving into Rio Rancho and the cafeteria staff’s high productivity, prices are kept at reasonable rates.

The price increase will not affect those students on free or reduced lunch. Reduced lunch prices will stay at 40 cents. Approximately, 35 percent of Rio Rancho’s students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Free and reduced lunch qualifications are set by the United States Department of Agriculture.

Students are allowed to bring their lunch to school.

Sodexho is a French multinational corporation and one of the largest food services and facilities management companies in the world. It operates 29,000 sites in 80 countries.

The company earned more than 13 billion euros in revenue in 2007.

In addition to operating cafeterias in schools, Sodexho also operates cafeterias in companies, hospitals, public agencies, colleges, universities, assisted-living facilities, prisons and United States military mess halls.