{"id":1506,"date":"2026-06-01T19:06:45","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T19:06:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=1506"},"modified":"2026-06-01T19:06:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T19:06:45","slug":"wake-school-meal-prices-could-go-up-again-this-fall-heres-how-much-and-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=1506","title":{"rendered":"Wake school meal prices could go up again this fall. Here\u2019s how much and why"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n

Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Wake County families could add higher school meal prices to the additional costs they\u2019ll face this year.<\/p>\n

Read more How will new limits on grad-school loans affect prospective students in NC?<\/a><\/p>\n

Wake County school administrators will recommend on Tuesday raising school breakfast and lunch prices by 25 cents per meal<\/a> for the 2026-27 school year. According to documentation for the presentation, officials say they need to increase meal prices to keep the program financially afloat amid higher operating costs.<\/p>\n

Annual hikes in school meal prices have become a way of life for families in the Wake County school system.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at how much prices could go up and why:<\/p>\n

A full-price meal could increase to:<\/p>\n

The 25-cent increase could increase lunch revenues by $554,612 and breakfast revenues $93.578.<\/p>\n

A decade ago, it cost $2.25 for lunch in elementary schools<\/a> and $2.50 for lunch in middle and high schools.<\/p>\n

The proposed price increase would not affect the 37.5% of Wake County students who qualify for a free and reduced-price meal. It also wouldn\u2019t impact the students at the high-poverty schools that qualify for a federal program that provides free meals to all students regardless of their family\u2019s income level.<\/p>\n

During the pandemic, the federal government allowed schools to serve free meals to all students. According to Wake, it would cost an additional $11.9 million a year to resume providing free meals to all district students.<\/p>\n

School administrators say revenues aren\u2019t keeping up with increases in food, supply and labor costs:<\/p>\n

School nutrition programs are supposed to be financially self-supporting. But administrators say that unless things change they may need the district\u2019s help to cover costs.<\/p>\n

Read more How much does antivenom cost at NC hospitals? You may need it after a snake bite<\/a><\/p>\n

There is a way Wake could cut down on costs, but it would require changing the district\u2019s position on \u201clunch shaming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wake used to serve students a cheaper alternative meal of fruits and vegetables if they had too large a tab of unpaid meal debt. But this led to complaints that it publicly shamed those students because classmates could tell why they weren\u2019t eating the regular meal.<\/p>\n

Wake suspended the practice of serving the alternative meals in September 2024 when the district began getting enough donations from the community to cover the unpaid meal debt. However, since then the amount of unpaid meal debt has soared to six-figure levels.<\/p>\n

In January, administrators had recommended resuming serving the meal of fruits and vegetables when children had too much of an unpaid meal balance. But the school board rejected the request<\/a> and told staff to come up with another way to absorb the debt.<\/p>\n

Wake could ease its financial burden if it increases the number of students who are eligible for a free meal. The federal government reimburses the district at $4.69 per free meal served compared to just 53 cents for full-price student meal.<\/p>\n

Wake says a students\u2019 ability to receive a federally subsidized meal is based solely on federal eligibility guidelines. The district says it\u2019s trying to maximize identifying which students are eligible for a subsidized school meal.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the district says raising revenues from higher meal prices would help keep the nutrition program sustainable.<\/p>\n

Read more After 15 years, a plea for answers on Daniel Moses, the missing \u2018Barbecue Man\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wake County may raise school breakfast and lunch prices by 25 cents in 2026-27 as food, labor and supply costs climb, while unpaid meal debt, funding gaps grow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nWake school meal prices could go up again this fall. 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