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Hawai‘i education leaders are facing considerable pushback over a proposal to nearly double the price of school meals over the next three years for students who do not qualify for government food assistance.

The proposed changes come as the rising cost of food hits both families and the ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± Department of Education, which estimates that it currently costs $9 to produce a school lunch.

While state law requires that school meal prices be at least half the cost of producing meals, the department has charged far less for years, citing the food insecurity faced by many families in the state. In 2023, 7% of ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± teenagers reported being hungry most or all of the time because there wasn’t enough food at home, according to a health survey distributed in public schools.

Education advocates and parents say the state is moving in the wrong direction amid a broader push to make school meals free for all students. Eight mainland states have made school meals free, regardless of family income, and ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± lawmakers have introduced two related bills in the new 2025 session.

Under the proposal, scheduled to go before the Board of Education on Thursday, lunch prices for elementary and middle schoolers would increase from $2.50 to $4.75 by the 2028-29 academic year. Lunch for high schoolers would cost $5 by 2028, up from the current cost of $2.75 for students who don’t qualify for free or reduced-priced meals.

“This would be a huge hit to working families,” said Nate Hix, interim director of policy and advocacy at ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± Public Health Institute. Nationally, lunches for middle and high schoolers cost roughly $3.00 last academic year, .

Gov. Josh Green said in an emailed statement that he opposes the proposal to raise school lunch prices and plans to work with DOE to find more funding for the meal program. He added that he also wants to change the state law requiring schools to charge students half the costs of producing meals.

“Looking ahead, I strongly support the goal of achieving universal free school meals throughout Hawai‘i,” Green said.

Prices for ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± lunches have long been below the national average, with the state heavily investing in the school meals program to compensate for the gap in funding from student payments and federal reimbursements. DOE receives roughly $50 million annually for its food services branch and received an additional $18 million from the state last year to help cover the rising costs of meals.

In a legislative briefing earlier this week, Superintendent Keith Hayashi said the department was able to delay raising prices for school meals because of federal support during the Covid-19 pandemic. The federal government made all school meals free from 2020 to 2022, and ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± schools continued to use Covid-relief funds to support their food services program after that.

“Kids who are hungry obviously can’t learn.”

Roy Takumi, Board of Education chair

Nicole Woo, director of research and economic policy at ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± Children’s Action Network, said school meal funding is a challenge. The federal government reimburses states for school meals, but doesn’t fully reflect the state’s high food and labor costs. Many mainland districts are able to fund their school meal programs through federal support, fundraisers and student payments, rather than relying on state funding, Woo added.

But requiring ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± families to take on a greater portion of the costs isn’t the solution to funding school meals, Woo said. Families making less than 185% of the federal poverty level qualify for free or reduced-price meals, but that excludes many students whose parents still can’t afford school lunches.

For example, a family of four making just over $66,300 would have to pay full price for school meals.

“Food in general already costs a lot for the families in ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾±,” parent Brooke Akaji wrote in testimony , pointing out that her children don’t qualify for free school meals. “I understand that I can send my children with home lunch, but that takes a lot of time and planning that I don’t have.”

Some educational advocates say the state should be focusing on making school meals free for all children, instead of on raising prices.

“It feels like an easy, progressive way to support families,” said Daniela Spoto, director of food equity at ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± Appleseed. Under the proposed prices, a family with two high school students could pay $288 a month for breakfast and lunch, up from $158 right now.

Based on the current costs for school meals, Appleseed estimates that it would cost the state $15 to $25 million a year to make school meals free for all students.

It’s a relatively small ask when DOE’s overall budget request for the 2025-27 biennium is roughly $4.6 billion, Spoto said. She’s hoping legislative proposals to make meals free in ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾± will gain more support as awareness grows about how many families struggle to pay for school meals.

BOE Chair Roy Takumi said he would also support making all school meals free if funding from the Legislature comes through. Right now, he added, some students are teased if they can’t afford the full costs of lunch, while others are going without meals.

“Kids who are hungry obviously can’t learn,” he said.

BOE member Wesley Lo said the board is facing a difficult decision. It’s hard to ignore state laws mandating how much school meals should be, he said, and the department is doing its best to comply with requirements by slowly raising its prices over time.

While Lo said he would like to explore more options for paying for school meals, he’s unsure what the board’s decision will be on Thursday.

“I think there’s a lot of empathy toward this,” he said, “but we are in a conundrum.”

Civil Beat’s education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.