MCPS meal prices to increase by 30 cents next school year

Increase due to higher food, operation costs, district says  

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May 27, 2026 11:29 a.m.

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The price of school meals will increase by 30 cents beginning in the 2026-2027 academic year after the Montgomery County school board unanimously voted Thursday for the price hike amid increasing food costs.   

“This is very difficult because people are truly, truly suffering with food insecurity in our county,” board President Grace Rivera-Oven said during Thursday’s meeting in Rockville. “But at the same token, food prices have gone up tremendously.”  

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) had previously proposed a meal price increase at an April 16 school board meeting, saying it was necessary to keep the Department of Food and Nutrition Services solvent. The department exists as an enterprise fund “designed to be self-sustaining” without funds from the district’s annual operating budget, according to the April 16 staff presentation.    

Liz Leach, director of food and nutrition services, told the board in April that the department is currently operating at a loss, and would soon be exhausting pandemic-related federal funds that the district has used to cover the gap between expenses and revenue.    

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According to the April presentation, the department’s costs for food and labor have increased by more than $19 million from fiscal year 2015 to fiscal year 2025 and revenues have not kept up with expenses. The district hasn’t increased meal prices since 2015, according to MCPS officials.    

With the board’s decision, in total, breakfast for students will now cost $1.60, and lunch prices will increase to $2.85 for elementary school students and $3.10 for secondary school students.   

While the district had proposed a plan to increase the costs of school lunches over the next three years, the board voted only to increase prices for the upcoming school year.  

The increase won’t generate enough revenue to cover all the district’s meal costs, but will decrease the school district’s losses on food production from $5 million to $3 million, according to staff.  

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The increases would not impact students who qualify to receive free and reduced-price (FARMS) lunches, Leach said in April.  She also noted that students are not denied meals if they can’t pay for them.    

The April 16 discussion about increasing the price of school meals came after the Superintendent’s Shuffle in Gaithersburg’s Bohrer Park, a 5K run and walk sponsored by MCPS aimed at decreasing the school district’s more than $1.2 million in school lunch debt. As of April , the event had raised almost $12,700 to help reduce the district’s meal debt, according to MCPS spokesperson Chris Cram. 

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine