Meal Prices & Pre-Payment Options
Meal Prices
Welcome back to a new school year! We are looking forward to seeing students once again in our buildings, and in our cafeterias. ACPS offers healthy meals every school day. This year, breakfast costs $2 for all grade levels (grades PK-12) while lunch will cost $3.05 for Elementary (grades PK-5) schools, and $3.25 for Secondary (grades 6-12) schools. Your child(ren) may qualify for free or reduced-price meals if your household income falls within the limits on the Federal Income Chart or if your student attends a CEP school.
There is a 30-day grace period for completing FARM application forms for students who qualified for FARM in SY 22 or attended a CEP school SY 22. The cutoff date for SY 23 is as follows:
- Modified Calendar: September 8, 2022
- Traditional Calendar: October 6, 2022
Pre-Payment Options
Please take advantage of the options to prepay your student's meal accounts. Prepaid meal accounts help the serving lines go faster and give students more time to eat, relax, and play. It also gives you the peace of mind of not having to worry about the child's money every day or worry that it might get lost, stolen, or used for other things.
Online Payments
ACPS offers parents the opportunity to create and add money to their student’s meal account via SchoolCafé for any additional purchases using Visa, Mastercard, or a debit card. A small per-transaction convenience fee of $1.75 will be charged for each payment. You can also monitor your student’s meal account, set up reminders. School Cafe is the preferred method for paying for meals.
This online service allows parents of students to do the following:
- Prepay money directly into their child’s account
- Monitor their child’s food purchases
- Set purchase restrictions
- Set up low-balance email reminders
- Schedule recurring payments
- Have 24/7 Access to accounts & balances
- Submit a free-reduced meal application
- The maximum amount parents can deposit per student is $100 per transaction
- Transfer funds/Request refund
If at any time you leave the district or would like to request a refund on your account, you may do so by going to the SNS web page and selecting the “refund” tab under the meals and prepayment tab or directly through School Café.
Set up and manage your student's SchoolCafé account
Send Check or Cash
You can always bring money personally or send it with your student. Please place it in an envelope marked clearly with your student's name, their ID number, their teacher's name, the dollar amount, and the check number. Turn in prepaid deposits to the cafeteria cashier(s) or school office.
If you choose to bring money to school personally or send it with your student, please put it in an envelope clearly marked with the student's first and last name, their ID number, their teacher's name, and the amount enclosed.
Non-Discrimination Statement: In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.
Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.
To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USDA-OASCR%20P-Complaint-Form-0508-0002-508-11-28-17Fax2Mail.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:
- mail:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or - fax: (833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or
- email: Program.Intake@usda.gov
This institution is an equal opportunity provider.