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Parents could pay more for school meals and after-school activities while small schools may be asked to share principals to help the Tucson Unified School District get into the black.

With the district about $9 million away from balancing next year's budget, another proposal is still on the table, as well: saving $2.5 million by requiring every one of TUSD's employees — from the superintendent to custodians and crossing guards — to sit out two days without pay.

Because students must go to school a set number of days, one preliminary proposal suggests that teachers and other employees stay home for two of the four planned grading days that come at the end of every quarter.

It's not clear, meanwhile, how much students' fees would be increased for high school extracurricular activities, including those involving fine arts and athletics. The proposal also calls for a new fee for participation in middle school activities.

District officials would not comment on the fee-increase plans, which are on the TUSD Governing Board's agenda for Tuesday night, and they would not give additional information.

Under the meal-cost proposal that will go to the board on Tuesday, elementary school students would pay another quarter for each meal, bringing breakfast to $1.25. Lunch, consisting of milk, an entree and fresh fruit, would go up to $1.75.

Middle and high school students would see breakfast prices increase from $1.10 to $1.50, while lunch would go up a quarter to $2.25.

The policy would not affect students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Students pay full price for roughly a quarter of the 33,000 lunches the district provides daily.

The district hasn't raised meal prices for nine years, said Pamela Palmo, director of food services. The price increase would not generate extra income but would help the food department break even, she said.

Palmo said the food department might have been forced to ask for an increase anyway because of higher costs for labor and medical insurance, but a double whammy came from higher fuel and food prices.

"As a district, we have been very careful in managing our costs so that prices do not need to be increased frequently," Palmo said. "Costs have increased, however, in the various sectors that we purchase from, and we can't absorb all of that."

Some parents say TUSD's plan is just one more increase to deal with.

"Yes, you could say it's just a quarter, but when you've got two kids eating lunch at school every day and you add that all up, that's what kind of gets you right there," said Bethany Arnas, a 27-year-old nurse with two children at Sam Hughes Elementary School.

She already was concerned that the district is balancing its budget through staff cuts. Attendance clerks at a number of schools are still facing cuts. "It's pretty lame," Arnas said. "Charter schools and private schools are looking a little better."

Paul Eckerstrom, a consultant and the father of two TUSD students, said he understands the price increase, even though he's worried about its effect on lower-income families.

"It's unfortunate, but if food costs are going up at the grocery store, then they're going up at school as well," he said. "My budget is getting squeezed all over the place. This will be another small squeeze, but I understand that the district needs to do it."

Mirna Lord, 42, a program coordinator with two children in TUSD schools, said she wasn't surprised that the district is looking to raise fees in this economic climate. The slight increase wouldn't be such a problem if the food quality were better, Lord said.

"My son complains all the time about the food. 'It's too cold; it tastes funny.' Twenty-five cents is 25 cents, but I'd like to see some kind of improvement in the quality and types of food they offer," she said.

As for proposed but unspecified increases in after-school activities fees, Daniel Sotelo, a 16-year-old junior who wrestles at Cholla High School, said any increase worries him. If anything, he thinks fees should go down.

"A lot of people want to play the sport, but they can't afford it. If prices go up, fewer people will play," he said.

The district's board also will be asked to reconsider splitting principals between two small schools. That was done at eight schools in 2005, but the policy was lifted a year later after educators and families complained.

This time, schools would get small stipends to pay for a few more hours of staff time, including for a lead teacher who could step in to help manage the school and take some pressure off the principal. The administrators also would get a pass from some administrative functions, such as some meetings.

Assuming the plan affects 14 schools, which have yet to be identified publicly, projections show it could save about $500,000.

"I would agree that it was not popular (before)," Superintendent Roger Pfeuffer said. "If you look at it as a cost-saving measure, though, it was successful in that regard. This new model would address previous concerns by relieving the principals of some responsibilities because of the need to serve two schools."

Cyrus Miller, a parent who has been working to save Wrightstown Elementary School from closure, is so concerned that his school will be targeted for principal-sharing that he's rallying the school coalition to be at Tuesday's board meeting.

The last time around, the principal the school shared had high energy, Miller recalled, but "he was just worked to death. We lost students over that."

His school can't afford another setback when it's trying to build up its student base, he said, adding that other schools shouldn't have to deal with it, either.

"This is as big a deal as the school closure to us," Miller said. "The board has already said this didn't work, and here we are again, with the board flip-flopping."