Revised meal prices for all adults, employees and visitors at Baldwin County Public Schools (BCPS) have gone up to $3.05 for breakfast and $4.65 for lunch.

The change was finalized at a Thursday, July 18, Baldwin County Board of Education (BCBE) meeting.

Employee and visitor meals prices had already been approved for a lesser increase on June 20, but the state informed BCBE that CEP adult meal prices are mandated by USDA and unable to be lowered. Employee meals prices for the 2023-2024 school year were $2.25 for breakfast and $3.75 for lunch, with adult and visitor prices at $2.50 for breakfast and $4.25 for lunch. The 2024-25 increase was recommended to comply with Child Nutrition requirements and cover increasing costs.

"USDA does not reimburse the Child Nutrition Program for adult or visitor meals," the BCBE revision states. "Adult meal prices must take into consideration food, supplies and labor. After evaluating our costs, it is recommended that the employee visitor meals prices be revised."

However, through USDA's Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a non-pricing meal service option for schools and school districts in low-income areas, Baldwin County Public Schools will now be serving breakfast and lunch to all enrolled BCPS students at no cost. As Gulf Coast Media previously reported, given the county's poverty numbers and how new calculations are based on involvement in statewide programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), among others, BCPS will ultimately be 85% federally funded for this transition, according to BCPS CSFO John Wilson.

"It made sense to move in this direction," Wilson told Gulf Coast Media in June, citing that roughly 50% of district students benefit from statewide programs. "There will be some amounts that we'll have to cover locally, but I think that's a good investment in the community.

"Every family is dealing with the same inflationary concerns across the board. This is just one more thing we can do to try to help families across Baldwin County. We're excited about it, and I'm excited Baldwin County is finally in a position to be able to offer this program countywide. In the past, we could offer it within pockets or within certain schools, but there was always hesitation on doing that. We're finally in a position where we can go countywide, and I feel like that's the right thing to do. We're excited to offer this to all students and that all of our schools have a breakfast option for this next school year as well."