BATON ROUGE — The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board voted Thursday to approve the reallocation of nearly $5 million from its operating fund to its child nutrition program. 

The program has historically more than paid for its operations, but over the last two years, the school system overspent while generating less federal reimbursement funds than they usually take in. 

The move will reduce the district's financial reserves by nearly five percent, meaning less money for emergencies and new initiatives. 

The new four-year plan will see the nutrition program spend the second two years paying the district back an estimated $2.4 million each year.