Opening day for students at Seymour Community Schools is Wednesday, and besides getting acclimated to their new classes, they will be heading to the cafeterias to eat and might notice some price changes.

Stacy Townsend, director of food services, said corporationwide, the waivers that have provided free meals since the COVID-19 pandemic started ended as of June 30.

This year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has recognized this may be a challenge for some families, so it’s waiving the requirement for an increase on student meal prices.

“We are returning to our traditional paid, reduced and free eligibility status for the 2022-23 school year,” Townsend said. “This coming year, meal prices for students will be

$1.25 for breakfast and $2.55 for lunch for paid meals, keeping pricing the same as in 2019 before COVID happened.”

The 2019-20 school year was the last time students were charged for meals.

“Our reduced and free students have no cost in the lunch line, and then we have the Community Eligibility Provision, which is a special program at Brown and Jackson elementary schools,” Townsend said. “All students at those two locations get breakfast and lunch for free without having to fill out a reduced meal application with it basically being a high-poverty area.”

According to in.gov/doe/nutrition/community-eligibility-provision, CEP is a non-pricing meal service option for schools and school districts in low-income areas. CEP allows the nation’s highest poverty schools and districts to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students without collecting household applications.

Instead, schools that adopt CEP are reimbursed using a formula based on the percentage of students categorically eligible for free meals based on their participation in other specific means-tested programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Townsend said 6% of Seymour students qualify for reduced prices and will be provided meals at no cost. Last year, 58% of the entire student body qualified for either free or reduced-price benefits, Townsend said.

“We’ve done what we can to try and keep free meals going to as many students as possible, but without those waivers, we’ve had to go back to our regular pricing,” she said. “Rates went up this year, so our adult prices went up this year, too.”

Meal prices for adults have to equal the amount of reimbursement schools receive for a free meal, so breakfast for adults will be $2.70, and lunch will be $4.85.

Families may apply online for free and reduced-price meals by visiting scsc.k12.in.us/services/food-services and clicking on Applications for Free & Reduced Price Meals.

Paper applications will be available in each school building, too. Applications can be completed at any time during the school year.

The menus for each school can be found online at scsc.nutrislice.com/menu.