BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP)  -- Just like everyday families, school districts in Connecticut are struggling to pay their grocery bills.

The Bridgeport Public Schools is facing a $720 a day increase in milk expenses when cafeteria staff begin handing out 18,000 half-pint cartons a day this fall. The school system also must absorb a $200 a day increase in the price of 4-ounce fruit juice pouches.

But unlike many of Bridgeport's neighbors, the needy school district does not plan to pass the extra cost on to students. With 90 percent of the school population qualified to receive free or reduced priced meals, officials told The Connecticut Post they cannot end the practice of providing all students with free breakfasts and lunches.

``Essentially what we have to do here is tighten our belt,'' said Maura O'Malley, director of food services for the Bridgeport Public Schools.

Rising food prices are affecting districts across Connecticut and the nation.

Alan Dean, Connecticut district manager for Sodexo, a worldwide food service company, said at least half of the 20 districts it serves in Connecticut are increasing their school lunch prices this fall.

``It's a bit unusual and the increases are higher than typical, but given that we are in uncharted waters with cost increases, people certainly recognize we have to keep pace with what's going on,'' he said.

School lunch programs are funded by federal and state grants. Last week, the federal government announced a 10-cent increase in the reimbursement rate for free lunches to $2.57 each.

The School Nutrition Association, an organization that represents 55,000 school professionals in 38 states, including Connecticut, has been lobbying Congress to raise lunch reimbursement rates.

The group is also offering tips to members on how to get by without compromising nutritional integrity.

For example, instead of serving lasagna, the association suggests cafeterias provide whole-grain spaghetti as a less expensive, nutritionally equal alternative. Also, members are urged to train staff to dole out precise portions to students.

``We have to be more creative,'' said Ann Metcalf, director of food services for the Easton, Redding and Region 9 school districts.

In Easton, officials hope to keep the $2.25 price tag for school lunches because prices were raised last year for the first time in about a decade.

But Fairfield is raising school lunch prices by 10 cents in the fall for the second straight year. Milford's Board of Education will be asked this month to increase its school lunch prices for the first time in three years.

``We don't know where it's headed but it's up,'' Ilene Faustisch, Milford's food services director said of the food prices. ``Food is still available but the dollar is not going as far as it once did.''

Despite the looming price increases for school lunches, Erik Peterson, a spokesman for the School Nutrition Association, said it costs on average $3.43 to bring a lunch from home.

``Buying lunch at school,'' he said, ``is still a value.''

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