MERCER, Wis. -- Hot lunch will cost more at Mercer K-12 School when the new school year starts in September, the menu is likely to be different, and there may no longer be a Subway option.

The Mercer School Board on Monday approved a 10-cent increase in student lunch prices, from $1.70 to $1.80 for pre-kindergarten through grade six, and $1.90 to $2 for grades seven through 12. Adults will pay 50 cents more,

$3 rather than $2.50.

The vote to raise lunch prices was 3-1, with Shannon Hiller voting no. Hiller has four children at Mercer School. Board member Kelly Kohegyi was not at the meeting.

The board accepted the resignation of head cook Jan Borth.

Superintendent Jeff Ehrhardt told the board that the reimbursement for Subway for students who are eligible for free lunch is less than the Subway sandwich costs. The district is subsidizing the Subway lunch for those students, Ehrhardt said.

He noted that the food service program has a  $15,000 deficit, adding that most school districts have to subsidize their food service programs to some extent.

"I'm against the subs," board member Denise Thompson said. "There's no reason we can't provide a decent lunch."

Board president Carl Anderson suggested that since the district subsidizes the lunch program, it doesn't make sense to create a greater deficit to offer Subway food.

With a new cook, board member Steve Hoffmeister said, the school has a "golden opoportunity to make changes."

"When you get commodities, you don't have a lot of choice," Ehrhardt said.

Thompson said there were creative ways to utilize commodities.

Resident Tracy Benzel said students eat the least healthy parts of the meal, such as fried cheese sticks and French toast sticks.

"They're throwing away the peas and the peaches," Benzel said.

No new cook was named, but the district must hire from within the staff, if there is an applicant, under the union contract, according to Ehrhardt.