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The freshly baked muffins and whole-grain pizza crusts served to Onalaska schoolchildren may be a thing of the past because of rapidly rising grain costs.

Onalaska schools food service director Katie Wilson advised school board members they should prepare for price hikes next year for school meals, and even with that, some items baked from scratch at school might be gone.

Wilson discussed the food service program with board members Monday at a board development session. In an interview, Holmen food service director Cindy Thesing said her program faces similar tough choices.

In Onalaska, some standbys would remain on the menu: chicken nuggets and all-you-can eat fresh fruit and vegetables. Children will be encouraged to eat as much fresh fruit and vegetables as they would like, even though those are relatively costly.

Some foods will be “interjected” in the menu even though they might not be a child’s favorite. But only in limited amounts because participation drops if food children are not accustomed to is offered too much, said Wilson.

She said the most popular item — the one that keeps the kids buying lunches — is chicken nuggets.

Onalaska’s breakfast and lunch meals are self-sustaining operations that rely heavily on as many children as possible participating. A la carte meals available to middle school and high school students are profitable and help support the rest of the program.

Costs rose 6 percent to 8 percent this year and are expected to jump another 14 percent next school year. “We will have to seriously look at meal costs for next year,” Wilson said.

The number of children participating in school meals is up, said Superintendent John Burnett, and that is without much of a push. Wilson said there would be promotions next year to increase participation.

Wilson explained that there is federal reimbursement for meals provided to children whose families meet certain income standards and the government provides some agricultural commodities to the program.

Agricultural commodities are tricky, said Wilson. Schools must order items in February for the entire next school year, guessing at their needs. She said some items are never delivered and there is no refund. A recent instance resulted from a large beef recall. Beef ordered for this time of year will not come and the district will not get its money back.