Dear Wildcat Families,

In an email sent statewide, the State Superintendent indicated that Piedmont Schools have reported a $17.9 million surplus. This is untrue. At our July 9th board meeting, our CFO reported a fiscal year ’25 cash balance of $6,191,267.20. Piedmont School administrators are unsure where Mr. Walters got the "reported $17.9 million surplus" figure. We can't imagine Walters would be suggesting that we use bond money to pay for student meals. Using bond money would be a clear violation of the law. It is unfortunate that school districts have to spend their time and resources correcting misinformation sent by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. 

As we said in our statement earlier in the week, we agree that providing every student with free breakfast and lunch every day would have significant positive results in our schools. At Piedmont Schools, the total daily cost to feed all students is $23,292.70, which adds up to more than $4 million annually. Unfortunately, our budget cannot absorb this financial impact. We’re hopeful that additional funding will become available to help make free meals available to all students in our state.

Thank you for your continued support of Piedmont Schools.