Franklin: TANSTAFL -School Lunch

Michael Morton's article in the Milford Daily News follows up on the report during Tuesday night's School Committee meeting that high school students were upset with the increase in school lunch prices.

That's gotten a lot of attention," junior Brittany MacLeod told the School Committee on Tuesday night. MacLeod, a past student government member who now serves as the committee's student representative, added, "I'm not too pleased with paying $2.75 for a hot dog."

It should get a lot of attention. Superintendent Ogden didn't go far enough when he called it :

a "lesson in effecting change" for the students.

It should also be a lesson in economics.

Brittany have you tried buying a hot dog at Six Flags? or Fenway Park? or Gillette Stadium?

One basic economic principle you should learn applies here: There ain't no such thing as a free lunch! or TANSTAFL.

Somebody pays. Follow the money, understand the supply chain, understand what is going on.

This is a great opportunity to understand the economics of a portion of the school budget.

Then you can begin to understand the real problem that this town faces in trying to sustain a level of service in times of increasing costs and tight money.

Then when someone tells you that Franklin only pays half of what it costs to educate our own students (the remainder come from the generous folks of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts) and that Franklin is greatly reluctant in increasing taxes to pay anything more (only one operational override passed of 7 offered to the voters), you begin to understand the problem the town faces.

The least of our problems is your $2.75 hot dog.