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Cabarrus County board members deny raising school lunch prices

The denied motion would have made breakfast cost $1.50 per day, lunch $3 for elementary students, and $3.25 at middle and high schools.

CABARRUS COUNTY, N.C. — Cabarrus County school leaders voted down a motion that would have caused a price hike on school meals Monday. 

The Cabarrus County Board of Education discussed raising prices for both breakfast and lunch during Monday's meeting. In a unanimous decision, board members voted down the measure. 

If the plan was approved, breakfast would cost $1.50 per day, meanwhile, lunch would be $3 for elementary students and $3.25 at middle and high schools. 

A similar resolution was proposed for Iredell-Statesville Schools, with district leaders voicing their concerns about students losing access to free meals amid spiking food costs and inflation.

There is a proposed bill in the North Carolina General Assembly that would provide free meals for all students but it hasn't passed. 

Congress passed a bill Friday that aims to keep expanded, pandemic-era distribution of free meals to all students this summer. Rules that have allowed all students to receive meals for free at school, regardless of family income level, are set to expire before the next academic year. 

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A bipartisan agreement that had been reached last week in the Senate would have allowed children who are eligible for reduced-price lunch to eat for free in the upcoming school year, but that provision was removed from the final agreement.

“I’m disappointed we had to make this change. But without this bill, we would have no support for kids at all," said Democratic U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, of Michigan, chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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