LANDSDALE, Pa. – Another school district is contemplating dropping out of Michelle Obama’s national school lunch program because fewer students are buying the “healthier” lunches.

The North Penn school district’s nutrition services estimates it lost nearly a quarter-million dollars of its $6 million budget last school year because the “healthy” federal lunch standards cost significantly more to prepare, and fewer students are buying them, the Montgomery News reports.

North Penn nutrition services coordinator Pam Gallagher told the news site she plans to present the school board with two possible solutions: drop out of the national lunch program, or make other cuts.

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The latter option would still likely result in an operating loss, she told the News.

“We have to be able to keep our program viable, pay benefits and decent salaries, make sure our employees have the equipment they need, so (opting out of the federal lunch program is) something we have to have an open mind about,” Gallagher told the news site. “I’m not necessarily for it or against it, but it’s the nature of the beast.”

The district recently upped the cost of student lunches and breakfasts but it’s not clear if it will be enough to make up for the loss. The problem, Gallagher said, is mostly at the high school, where the food program is taking in $5,200 a day. She said that revenue needs to increase by $2,000, the News reports.

Healthier food called for by the federal program costs schools about 23 cents more per meal than in the past, while federal funding only increased by six cents. The new federal rules require schools to give all students a vegetable or fruit, whether or not they want it, and many students are throwing the food away, according to the News.

Leaving the federal lunch program would result in a loss of some funding, and lunches may not be as healthy, but the move would keep the local lunch program viable, Gallagher said. Leaving the federal program would also result in less food waste, and give school officials more flexibility to serve students food they’ll actually eat.

North Penn isn’t the only school district struggling with Michelle Obama’s new lunch standards.

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EAGnews has reported on numerous school districts – most recently Michigan’s Armada school district and Pennsylvania’s Southern Columbia area school district – that are losing a lot of money because of the new lunch requirements. Many have dropped out of the program altogether.

The financial loss is also only one of many other problems with the program. Students have rebelled in droves, by not eating the healthy food, but also through clever YouTube videos and other means. Nutrition experts have suggested the new nutrition requirements likely won’t be effective in combating childhood obesity, as they’re intended. Others have questioned whether the federal guidelines are really about improving student health or playing politics, citing close ties between the new requirements and the activities of food industry lobbyists.

Last month, a young student received burns to his face when he tried to open a steaming “pouch of meat” served by his school in an effort to meet the federal lunch standards.

The bottom line is, with each passing day there seems to be more and more anecdotal evidence that Michelle Obama’s attempt to make student lunches healthier may be much more trouble than it’s worth.

Unfortunately, the first lady seems to be in denial.

“Right now, we’re truly at a pivotal moment, a tipping point when the message is just starting to break through,” she said.

She should tell it to the kids waiting in the lunch line for their black bean mountain, potato-chive waffles or other “healthy” foods.