Back To School with a Price

The 2026-2027 school year has once again snuck up on students fresh out of Summer, but with a twist this year. Ever since the Covid 19 pandemic, schools have been gifting students free lunch with the help of the Community Eligibility Provision
(CEP), a federal program. As this year starts, however, not all of Miami-Dade County’s schools will qualify for free lunch, and students will be required to pay up. Thankfully, not all of the schools in the district are required to pay. 121 schools in Miami-Dade County are still implementing free breakfast and lunch for all students.

Rolling back to schools with priced meals, while breakfast for elementary and K-8 schools remains free, lunches at middle and high schools will now cost 4.20 cents, while breakfast will cost 2.50 cents. Fortunately, students can either apply for reduced lunch
or even free lunch like previous years. If the application is accepted for reduced lunch, students will be required to pay only 40 cents for lunch and 30 cents for breakfast. Of course, as always, students in programs like Medicaid, TANF, and SNAP are always allowed free lunch and breakfast. Here at Ferguson, students are stating their opinions about the school lunch change.

“In my opinion, I don’t agree with the district charging us for lunch. I think that with going to school, we should have free lunch,” says sophomore Kassandra Portnoy. Kassandra isn’t the only student voicing her opinion. Freshman Nicholas Ruiz says, “I don’t like that the district is charging us for food. I would rather they make us pay but at a lower price.”

In the end, while school lunch and breakfast is changing, debates and conversations are also being lit up in schools. Hopefully, families will be able to adjust to this new situation, and students will be able to still eat meals after a hard day in class.