Wake school meal prices are likely to go up again. Here’s how much more they’ll cost.
Students in Wake County schools will likely pay 25 cents more for breakfast and lunch this fall.
Wake County school administrators recommended the meal price increase Tuesday to cope with rising costs. The price increase would cost families more than $40 per child next school year for breakfast and another $40 for lunch.
Under the plan that will be voted on May 21, prices for the 2024-25 school year will rise in elementary schools to $1.75 for breakfast and $3.50 for lunch. Prices in middle schools and high schools would rise to $2 and $3.75 for lunch.
The price increase will not affect students who are eligible for a free or reduced-price meal. About 37% of Wake students now qualify for a subsidized meal, up from 32% before the pandemic, according to Paula De Lucca, senior director for Child Nutrition Services.
De Lucca said the price increase will raise about $1.1 million.
The school board split 5-4 last year on raising lunch prices. The board could opt to dip into the district’s rainy day fund to cover the cost of the price increase.
Meal prices rising annually
School meal programs are supposed to be self-supporting.
De Lucca pointed Tuesday to higher costs for salaries, food and supplies. She also pointed to the need to serve meals that comply with federal nutrition requirements.
De Lucca said the amount they get from the federal government for each meal doesn’t cover all their costs.
In the 2015-16 school year, a full-price lunch cost Wake students $2 in elementary schools and $2.25 in middle and high schools. But meal prices have been steadily rising in Wake and in schools across the state and nation.
The price increases were halted when the federal government waived rules to provide free meals to all students in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years during the COVID-19 pandemic. The waiver ended last school year.
Lunch prices have gone up 25 cents for each of the past two years.
De Lucca said she’s hoping to add 22 to 28 more schools to a federal program where all students on campus eat free. Only 12 of Wake’s 197 schools currently qualify.
