No, I do not agree. It is authoritarian and heavy handed (no pun intended). Basically the school is demanding that students submit to being processed like cans of soup or cattle. Why not tattoo a bar code on each student's forehead? That would certainly be efficient. The deeper issue is that state collection of individual biometric information that will end up lord knows where. These kids are neither cattle nor criminals and last I checked a dollar bill was "legal tender for all debts public and private" -- even in the rarefied air of the school lunchroom.
The school cafeteria is not an assembly line building Porches -- saving a few seconds is hardly paramount. There is no reason clerks cannot collect money and make change for those students who choose not to be sucked into The Matrix. The issue is obviously not one of efficiency but authority and control, as the edgy and vindictive quotes from school officials demonstrate. I hope sensible people in Mars who believe in the autonomy of the individual and freedom from unwarranted state authority (yes, the school board is an arm of the government) will resist and protest.