CEDAR RAPIDS- The rising cost of food could mean digging deeper to pay for school lunches in the future. And some districts could have a better idea how much in just a few weeks.

Cedar Rapids Schools spent $2.5-million dollars on food for school cafeterias this school year. Bids to supply much of the food for the next school year will come in soon. And food managers are bracing for some big increases.

The younger kids still like their milk...but that's a problem as well as a nutritional blessing. Cedar Rapids Schools budgeted about $400,000 a year for the district's milk in recent years. But last year, rising dairy prices boosted that figure by at least another $50,000. And managers believe they may have to pay a similar dairy increase this next school year as well.

Suzy Ketelsen, Cedar Rapids Food Service Manager, says dairy may be going up the fastest but other foods are climbing in price too.

"We're hoping it's not going to be a big increase, but one we can manage," she said.

Cedar Rapids already orders in bulk with Linn-Mar, Marion and occasionally College Community districts to save money. Ketensen says shes looking at other savings ideas too.

One would limit food deliveries to some schools to just once a week to save on fuel costs. Also, she's looking on standardizing some food choices and imposing limits. For instance, next year all Cedar Rapids schools may offer just one type of bread and one type of hamburger bun.

But it may also come down to raising lunch prices to make up the difference. Cedar Rapids and other metro districts increased prices last fall by five to ten cents per meal. Those kind of increases have occurred ever three or four years on average.

But the district may need another hike this fall depending on what vendors bid to supply the next school year's supplies.

The rising cost of food is a problem many districts are confronting. Just this week, the Des Moines School Board voted to increase lunch prices there by $.50 to $.65 cents per meal. That school district, Iowa's largest, had not increased lunch prices for six years.