Some people call them bunny trails. Others call them red herrings. They’re both referring to those minor but fascinating details that draw our attention away from the bigger, truly important issues.

This week as the Butler School Board continues to wrestle with a $106.7 million proposed budget for 2016-17, the red herring is food services.

The district spends about $2.8 million a year in food services and employs 95 food service workers. With the operation losing an average $113,000 annually over the past eight years, the district wants to privatize food services and turn it over to a corporate manager.

Never mind the assorted pressures being placed on school cafeterias these days: mandates to prepare fresh fruits and vegetables and foods low in fat in sodium; or the unnerving trends — more students from low-income families are getting the free or reduced-rate meals while fewer and fewer children who don’t qualify for assistance are actually buying them.

Focus on this instead: The average annual loss for food services in the district — $113,000 — represents only about one-tenth of 1 percent of the proposed 2016-17 school budget of $106.7 million.

For the relative pittance of $113,000, the administration is toying with the idea of taking 95 jobs and turning them over to a private contractor. The requests for proposals have already been distributed.

The school board just sold the Clearfield Elementary building for more than twice that amount. — we mention this just to keep things in perspective.

The district also wants the contractors to include in their proposals an explanation how they plan to increase participation in the school breakfast and lunch programs.

For the 95 food service workers, this is no secret: Serve tasty food that kids want to eat. It’s no big mystery to them.

It’s easy enough to lose perspective with the typical household budget, and incredibly more so with the $106.7 million Butler schools budget proposed for 2016-17.

Cutting must begin somewhere, but it’s unfortunate and maybe even misleading to emphasise food services issues in the midst of budget season. Let’s not get off on bunny trails in the middle of this crucial discussion.

The proposed budget is out of balance by several million dollars. Privatizing food services won’t fix the imbalance.