School meal payments return with higher cost
Students enjoy lunch at Lakes Middle School in 2019. The Coeur d'Alene School Board on Monday voted to increase the price of school meals. The increase accompanies the return of required payment for meals after two years of pandemic-era federal programs that made school meals free for all students.
Photo courtesy of the Coeur d'Alene School District
After a two-year hiatus from having to pay for school meals, parents in the Coeur d’Alene School District will be paying higher prices for their kids to eat breakfast and lunch at school.
The school board approved the price increase Monday during a special meeting.
Breakfast for elementary school students will now cost $1.90 and middle and high school students will pay $2.10.
The lunch price for elementary school students is now $3.15 and $3.50 for middle and high school students.
"If we don't use those prices, we would need to get the difference somehow, but not through our program," Coeur d'Alene School District Director of Nutrition Services Ed Ducar said Wednesday.
The upcoming school year has 174 days during which students might opt to buy school meals. If an elementary school student paid full price for lunch each day, that's $548.10. For secondary students, the cost would be $609. Prices listed at cdaschoolsnutrition.com show the monthly cost of elementary school lunch to be $63 a month or $15.75 a week. For middle and high schools, regular lunch is $70 per month or $17.50 per week.
The school meal price hike accompanies the return of required payment for school meals, which have been free for all students the past two years because of federal funding and U.S. Department of Agriculture flexibilities put in place in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The universal free meals ended in June.
“The challenge is getting families back in the habit of paying in advance for school meals after everything was free for the past two years," Communications Director Scott Maben said. "That includes encouraging families to fill out the application for the federal free and reduced-price meal program."
Families that qualify have the option to sign up for free and reduced meals. The Coeur d'Alene School District has been sharing information with families since before the 2021-22 school year ended to ensure they can take advantage of the program. Ducar said numerous families have signed up ahead of the next school year.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the district had approved 492 students for reduced meals and 1,385 students for free meals.
"We always give out information to the parents so they know it's happening," Ducar said. "They're not going to be off guard. They all know, they have to fill out an application."
Eligibility for free or reduced meals depends on income and household size. For example, participants may qualify for reduced meals if they are from a single household with an annual income of $25,142 or less, or they may qualify for free meals if they are from a single household with an income of $17,667 or less.
"Everything’s hard right now,” Ducar said. "Even with us … we’re also dealing with supply chain issues and pricing going up for us.
Visit cdaschoolsnutrition.com and select the Free/Reduced Price School meals button to complete an application for free or reduced-price meals for students.