Adams Township Schools Superintendent Tim Keteri said that while recent federal tariffs and school lunch funding has been cut, it is too soon to know what the full extent these actions will have on the school district’s budget. (Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette)

ADAMS TOWNSHIP — School district officials are looking at the impact recent federal government actions will have on the district’s budget, including the bond projects and the school district’s food service.

On March 12, ABC News reported that on Wednesday, the U.S. began imposing 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports from all trading partners with no exceptions or exemptions.

On the same day, the AP reported that the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture is ending two pandemic-era programs that provided more than $1 billion for schools and food banks to purchase food from local farmers and producers. About $660 million of that went to schools and childcare centers to buy food for meals through the Local Foods for Schools program.

Superintendent Tim Keteri said that $175,000 of the bond project is for steel, and so far the impact tariffs will have on that are unknown. The $5.9 million bond is to fund projects that, as Superintendent Tim Keteri said, address infrastructure needs. These will include erecting, furnishing, and equipping additions to school buildings

Keteri said the project is masonry-based and many windows, which are items things not affected by tariffs.

The masonry, he said is local, from Superior Block, and bids for windows are local, also. Fortunately, the project does not call for a lot of wood.

Keteri said there are at least four interested contractors who have submitted bids and representatives from those firms will be on the grounds next Wednesday for a walk-through.

In response to the USDA cuts to school lunch program, Adams Township Schools Business Manager Steve Nordstrom said it presents a wait-and-see situation.

“Currently, the school district gets reimbursed for meals by the state and the federal governments,” he said. “With this new cut, if the federal decides to not offer free lunch for everyone in the future, does the state take that in, or does the school district go back to charging students?”

Keteri said the USDA funding cuts will have a larger impact on smaller districts.

“If you look at our budget,” he said, “a smaller budget, the cuts are that much more significant. It’s not just ‘We’re going to lose $30,000.’ That cuts half of our fund equity just because in the food service.”

Nordstrom commented that there is no increase in state funding this year, which may further impact the district’s budget.

Keteri said when the district budgets for the next year, it is partially done on the state’s per pupil funding.

“They tell us this and they tell us that, and at the last minute, we got nothing,” Keteri said. “So, then we’re sitting there. We eat it this year, we’re fine, but what we need to do is address how do we get some of this back.

“We’re just going to plan to slowly get it back. You can’t get it back within a year. So, you just slowly take a look at your budget and say: ‘This was a luxury, it’s now nothing,’ and that’s where you go first.”

Keteri said that when the district’s food service is fully funded, there is “tons” of participation.

“Yet, if the funding is limited only to the families that truly need funded lunches,” he said, “the school food service still needs the same number of staff.

“When you look at it, when you look at the final product, what happens? Everyone gives and takes a little bit, you get maybe a little slimmer moving forward, which I think is the overall intention is, but the process is mind-blowing.”