LEE COUNTY, Fla.- Lee County school cafeterias could soon go high-tech. The School District is considering a proposal to install palm scanners to speed up lunch lines.

Forget about lunch money, Lee's School District is considering payment through palm scanners. One swift scan "reads" a student's vein pattern and deducts lunch money from their account.

"Once it's loaded into the system, if the student comes back to the serving line, once they have their palm scanned they will know exactly who's standing in front of the point of sale system," said Sonny Stelmacki of Lee School District's Food & Nutrition Services Department.

The high-tech system is already in use in Pinellas County and is said to cut lunch line times in half. Currently, Lee County students use punch codes, I.D. cards, or cash to pay for lunch.

"The students, sometimes they forget their numbers, or they might mis-key the numbers into the system," Stelmacki said Wednesday.

The palm scanning system carries a price tag of $192,000. The School District says it would pay for it through school lunch purchases and federal reimbursement for kids on free or reduced lunch.

School District leaders assure the program's only purpose is allowing kids a little more time for lunch.

"It's non-evasive. It's only stored right there in our software. It does not go to the federal government in any way, all it does is identify this is who's standing there," Stelmacki said.

The School District is still in the exploratory stage of implementing palm scanners. If they choose to go forward with them, the scanners will be installed in a few trial schools first to test out their success.