Student lunch prices will to go up by 25 cents in the fall to $2.75 for high-schoolers and to $2.50 for elementary and intermediate students, the first price increases since 2011.
Breakfast prices will go up by 10 cents to $1.10 and $1.20 for elementary and secondary students, respectively.
Department of Education officials cited increases in food and labor costs, which have pushed up meal expenses by more than 17 percent in the last five years. The move is expected to raise an additional $1.7 million a year for the food services branch.
"In order for our schools to continue to provide quality meals for our students, the food we provide cannot be heavily processed," Dann Carlson, assistant superintendent for school facilities and support services, said in a statement. "Serving nutritious food made by our staff is better for our students but it comes at a cost."
He said the department has taken steps to reduce the cost of school meals, including the use of a centralized vendor to leverage larger purchasing power for better prices.
The increases will help bring the department in line with a 2009 state law that requires the DOE to set meal prices at a level "not less than half" the cost of preparing the meal.
The food services branch — which serves 107,000 lunches a day at 255 schools — is spending $5.51 to prepare each lunch this year. Elementary students currently pay $2.25 for lunch while high school students pay $2.50.
Pricing will remain the same under federal requirements for low-income families who qualify for reduced-price meals: 30 cents for breakfast and 40 cents for lunch.
The food service branch’s $105 million budget comes from a combination of state funding, revenues from students who pay full price, and reimbursements from the federal government for lunches served to low-income students.
Nearly 60 percent of lunches are free or served at a reduced price. The federal government reimburses the state up to $3.57 per free lunch served and up to $3.17 for each reduced-price lunch served. (Under federal income guidelines a family of four cannot earn more than $50,746 to receive the reduced rate, while a family of four earning $35,659 or less qualifies for free meals.)
"Studies show that children who eat school lunches are more likely to consume milk, meats, grains and vegetables than students who bring lunch from home," the DOE said in a statement. "They also tend to have higher nutrient intakes — both at lunch and over the course of an entire day. It is a DOE priority to ensure students get nutritious meals that fuel learning and physical activities."
