This is a new calculation which aims to be more “fair”. From the start of the 2024 school year, the 83 public colleges from Loire-Atlantique will implement solidarity pricing in canteens, the departmental council (PS) announced at the start of the week.
A system which is of interest to more and more communities, such as the Brittany region or New Aquitaine which, for example, recently chose it for their high schools. The government supports the development of 1 euro meals in primary schools. Explanations.
How it works ?
While each establishment fixed the price of its meal, within the limit of a ceiling, it now offers a price adapted to the situation of the student’s family. In Loire-Atlantique, for example, a menu could not exceed 3.40 euros, but everyone paid the same price, whatever their income. From September 2024, nine tranches will be offered based on the family quotient, with an initial price of 1 euro. The wealthiest families will have to pay more, up to 5.30 euros. The department will invest one million euros per year.
Why these new prices?
The objective of this “social justice” measure is to increase the number of children eating in the canteen, particularly the most disadvantaged who currently do not have access to them. An experiment took place last year in the first five middle schools in Loire-Atlantique (belonging to the priority education network) where sometimes less than half of the students ate lunch on site. The results were conclusive since “an increase of 21.5% in the number of half-boarders” was noted between the start of the 2022 and 2023 school years.
Is solidarity pricing tending to develop?
Inflation seems to be motivating more and more communities to embark on this type of experiment, although the methods differ depending on the territory. In Sarthe for example, the department preferred to target certain colleges where the meal will cost 1 euro, for everyone. In New Aquitaine, the region has selected 64 high schools from four departments to deploy social pricing from the next school year. You will have to pay between 2.30 and 5.50 euros for a meal, depending on the bracket in which you are located.
Other communities have started thinking about getting started in the coming years. As for primary schools, the State has renewed its financial aid to municipalities that wanted to set up the system.