Rise in food costs bumps up school meal prices

SARASOTA — Despite all Sarasota students starting the new school year with no lunch debt after a local church recently paid it off, student debt might climb even higher this year due to rising food costs.

Sarasota County Schools explored a raise in school meal prices during its Tuesday workshop after seeing an “unprecedented increase” in food costs.

Sarah Dan, manager of food nutrition services, revealed the cost of food jumped 18% in just the last year.

Aid from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will no longer provide supply-chain assistance funds for school districts to offset rising costs this year as well, Dan said, further diluting funding resources for students.

In previous years, school officials said USDA has given the school district as much as $2 million some years, and $1 million for the 2023-24 school year.

District staff were quick to point out student meals do not receive any grant funding like other district programs. Food nutritional services is “100% self-funded,” according to Jody Dumas, the district’s executive director of facility services.

“It’s like running a business out there … and so we have to generate the revenue, whether it’s free and reduced lunch or paying for meals,” Dumas said.

Using the most popular meals among students, Dan gave examples of food inflation costs between 2020 and the 2024-25 school year:

The cost of a case of burritos more than doubled, rising from $40 to $85A case of cheese pizzas more than doubled, from $30.77 to $71.13A case of Uncrustables sandwiches has increased to nearly $90A case of peach cups increased by 25% to more than $50

To curb costs, district staff said they try to localize their sourcing for items, like milk from M&B Farms in Hillsborough County.

Despite their best efforts to maintain low costs, the district proposed new prices for the 2024-25 school year, with some increasing student meal costs by nearly a dollar.

Below is a comparison between 2023-24 and the proposed 2024-25 prices.

Breakfast

Elementary, $1.50 to $2.25

Middle school, $2 to $2.25

High school, $2 to $2.25

Lunches

Elementary, $2.75 to $3.25

Middle school, $3 to $3.75

High school, $3.25 to $3.75.

Comparing proposed prices for the 2024-25 school year, Sarasota County student meal costs are generally higher than neighboring districts.

While Manatee and Pinellas counties offer free breakfast for all students, Sarasota County charges $2.25 for breakfast. Lunch is $3.25 for elementary students. This is between 15 to 25 cents more than what students are charged in Manatee and Pinellas counties.

Price disparages run even higher for Sarasota County secondary students, with lunch costing 35 to 50 cents more than those in Manatee and Pinellas counties.

For lunch, Sarasota County elementary students pay an extra $5 a month and secondary students an extra $10 per month compared to Pinellas County prices. Breakfasts cost Sarasota County students $45 per month compared to the free breakfasts in neighboring counties.

For perspective, that $45 to $90 could pay for a new pair of shoes or back to school supplies for economically-disadvantaged families, which, according to U.S. News & World Report, make up 35% of SCS student enrollment.

Dan said the district ended the 2023-24 school year with 51.4% of its families eligible for free and reduced, and she encourages everyone who needs the assistance to apply.

Currently, only eight schools in the district qualify for Community Eligibility Provision, a program headed by USDA that allows eligible schools to offer a non-pricing meal service to all students at no charge for lunch and breakfast meals.

Charlotte County Public Schools already meets that requirement based on the Economically Needy percentages of its students, providing both free breakfast and lunch to all students in the district.

For the USDA to fund all Sarasota County student meals, the district would need to have 62.5% of students directly certified.

Currently, SCS is at 36.27% directly certified, according to spokesperson Kelsey Whealy.

“I’m going to be honest, that’s a goal that I would love to be able to do that,” Dan said.

Families who need assistance paying for school meal can complete a Meal Benefits Application to receive breakfast and lunch for free or at a reduced price.