School Meal Prices
Breakfast is Free for All Students
Breakfast is available to all students for free. No application is required. See our breakfast menus here.
Lunch is Free at 12 Schools: Community Eligibility Provision
Each school year our School Nutrition Services Department provides information to the United States Department of Agriculture's School Meal Program to determine if any of our schools qualify for its Community Eligibility Provision. This program allows the nation’s highest poverty schools, who have a high percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students at those schools without collecting Free and Reduced-Price Meal Applications. If a family has children at our other schools, a meal application would still be required for them to determine eligibility for meal benefits.
For the 2024/2025 school year, 12 of our schools qualify for the program. Breakfast and lunch are free for all students who attend these schools and no meal application is required for the students. Families who have children who attend schools not on this list may still complete a Free and Reduced-Price Meal Application to see if they individually qualify for meal benefits.
- Julia P. Bryant Elementary School
- Langston Chapel Elementary School
- Langston Chapel Middle School
- Mattie Lively Elementary School
- Mill Creek Elementary School
- Nevils Elementary School
- Portal Elementary School
- Portal Middle High School
- Sallie Zetterower Elementary School
- Statesboro High School
- Stilson Elementary School
- William James Middle School
Charging Meals
Any meal payments are due at mealtime. Elementary and middle school students without cash or money on a meal account may be allowed to charge for only five days. At that point the account must be paid before allowing additional charges. Charging meals is not permitted at our high schools. Negative balance letters are sent home weekly with each student. All account balances will be transferred to your child’s new school if they transfer schools within the system.
Purchasing a Second Meal or A-La-Carte Items
Students are offered an initial regular meal before being allowed to purchase additional seconds and any a-la-carte items. Prices are consistent with prices charged in other school systems with similar demographics.
A-La-Carte items are priced individually based on a percentage above actual cost of the item. These items are available in addition to the school meal and are not intended to be sold individually to make a meal. The available items may vary by school. Any items sold at the school must meet the requirements of our local wellness policy.
Meal Prices for Students & Adults
Meal Prices for Breakfast
- Free - Breakfast is free for all students. No meal application necessary.
- $3 - Breakfast for Adults
- $3 - Additional meal servings for students and adults
Meal Prices for Lunch
- Free for All students who are eligible for free lunch. Complete a Free and Reduced Meal Application.
- Free for All students who attend one of the 12 schools listed above. No meal application is required. These schools qualify for the national School Lunch Program's Community Eligibility Provision.
- $0.40 - Students eligible for reduced lunch. Complete a Free and Reduced Meal Application. For the 2024/2025 school year, Georgia's School Nutrition Program has decided to cover the cost of reduced-price meals. This means that students whose families qualify for reduced-price meal benefits may eat free lunch this year.*
- $3.85 - Elementary school students,
- $3.85 - Middle and high school students.
- $5 - Lunch for employees and volunteers (Tea available with meal)
- $5 - Visitors (Parents, vendors, spouses of employees)
- $5 - Additional meal servings for students and adults
2024 / 2025 School Year Meal Costs for Families with Partial or No Free Lunch Benefits
| Month/School Days | Reduced-Price Lunch (¢.40)* | Full-Price Lunch ($3.85) |
| August (22 days) | $0 | $84.70 |
| September (19 days) | $0 | $73.15 |
| October (18 days) | $0 | $69.30 |
| November (16 days) | $0 | $61.30 |
| December (15 days) | $0 | $57.75 |
| January (18 days) | $0 | $69.30 |
| February (15 days) | $0 | $57.75 |
| March (20 days) | $0 | $77.00 |
| April (17 days) | $0 | $65.45 |
| May (17 days) | $0 | $65.45 |
| Total (177 days) | $0* | $681.45 |
* Georgia: For the 2024/2025 school year, Georgia's School Nutrition Program has decided to cover the cost of reduced-price meals. This means that students whose families qualify for reduced-price meal benefits may eat free lunch this year.
Paying for School Meals
To pay for school meals, families must either qualify for meal benefits or provide on-time payments. Both can be managed online.
Families can manage their child's school meal account online. It's an easy and convenient way to add funds instantly or check balances. Pay for meals, extra meal servings or a-la-carte items on line with My School Bucks.
Easy-to-use, convenient, private and secure. Simply go to the My School Bucks website to enroll and start using the site to deposit funds into your student’s meal account. Once your account is established, you can check balances or fund the account anytime from your home computer, phone or fax.
Your child’s information is safe. It stays at school. Your personal and payment card information is protected by the most advanced Internet security. Call 855-832-5226 or visit the My School Bucks website for more information.
Families Are Responsible for Ensuring Meals Are Paid
The school district communicates with families about completing the annual school meal benefits application and about any low balances on students' meal accounts; however, it is essential that families be personally responsible for ensuring either their child's meal benefits application or meal payments are submitted on time, whether or not a reminder is received. Please note that a missed reminder does not exempt families from making any necessary payments. We appreciate your attention to this important matter.
There are two online services tools which can help families better manage school meal accounts: The My School Apps and My School Bucks. We invite you to use them.