Wake will resume charging students for school meals. See how much prices will rise.
Many Wake County students will not only have to start paying for school meals again, but the breakfasts and lunches will come with a higher price this fall.
Federal COVID-19 waivers that have allowed U.S. public schools to offer free breakfasts and lunches to all students regardless of income will expire in June. With Wake once again having to charge for meals, the school board approved Tuesday a staff recommendation to raise breakfast and lunch prices by 25 cents for next school year.
The cost for a full-price breakfast will rise to $1.50 in elementary schools and $1.75 in middle and high schools. A full-price lunch will rise to $3 in elementary schools and $3.25 in middle and high schools
Child nutrition officials say the price increase will allow them “to operate with a budget that includes sufficient revenue to support operations based on budgetary assumptions,” according to documents prepared for Tuesday’s board meeting.
“It’s certainly not an easy choice for our families knowing that it impacts them,” school board chairwoman Lindsay Mahaffey said Tuesday.
Reaching out to low-income families
Before the pandemic, only 31% of Wake’s students came from families with low-enough incomes to qualify for a free or reduced price school lunch.
But during the pandemic, the U.S. Department of Agriculture allowed schools to serve free meals to all children at the end of the 2019-20 school year, last school year and this school year. The waivers also included higher reimbursement costs for schools for each meal served.
In February, nearly 2,000 national, state and local organizations from every state signed a letter urging Congress to extend the USDA’s authority to issue nationwide waivers beyond this school year, EdNC reported. Legislation that would extend the waivers is stuck in a U.S. Senate committee.
With the waiver ending, families who want a subsidized meal will once again have to fill out an application showing their income meets federal guidelines.
Superintendent Cathy Moore said Tuesday she wished the federal waivers were made permanent. But for now, she says the district must do more to make sure that students who are eligible for free and reduced meals get that benefit.
Moore said Wake doesn’t qualify for a federal program that was in place before the pandemic that allows all schools in a district to offer universal meals. It will be an optional this fall in a handful of Wake schools.
Higher costs for meal program
Wake, like other school districts nationally, is dealing with major staffing shortages for school cafeteria staff.Wake has a 14% vacancy rate in child nutrition.
Conditions got so bad in November that cafeteria workers in dozens of Wake schools called out sick to protest working conditions and low pay. This led to Wake briefly asking students to bring in their own meals.
Wake is preparing for the state to provide school support staff, like cafeteria workers, with a 2.5% salary increase. The school board’s proposed budget includes a new $16 hour minimum salary for support staff and raises for other employees.
The higher wages also come during a time of higher food costs and shortages of some supplies.
Paula De Lucca, Wake’s senior director of child nutrition, told the school board that they’re dealing with higher costs, such as a 40% increase in delivery costs, 34% increase in compostable trays and 29% increase in chicken nuggets.
She said the 25 cent increase will help them with a state requirement to have a two-month fund balance in the child nutrition budget. Under state law, child nutrition programs are supposed to be self-supporting.
De Lucca said they’d have recommended a $1 increase if not for the USDA providing $3 million this year to help with supply chain costs. That funding is for one year though so De Lucca says meal prices will likely go up again next year,
Child nutrition “recommends an incremental multi-year price adjustment strategy to manage cost increases,” according to the presentation.
The board vote was 6-2 with Monika Johnson-Hostler and Tara Waters voting no. Heather Scott was not at the meeting.
This story was originally published May 16, 2022 at 11:28 AM with the headline "Wake will resume charging students for school meals. See how much prices will rise.."
