Scottsdale Unified raises school meal prices for 1st time in 8 years due to spike in costs

The Scottsdale Unified School District has approved a price increase for school meals for the 2025-26 school year, due in part to a spike in operational costs.

The district hasn’t had a price adjustment since the 2017-18 school year.

Patti Bilbrey is director of nutrition services for the district. She said SUSD was able to wait this long to raise prices by using extra funds from the COVID-19 pandemic to offset meal prices for families rather than buying new equipment.

“We decided to put it into our families' pockets and say, how can we hold off price increases? We were able to sustain that for eight years," Billbrey said. "Unfortunately we are no longer at that point to be able to sustain that as those funds have been depleted.”

Since 2018, Bilbrey said SUSD has seen a 20% increase in food costs, a 69% increase in supply costs and a 106% increase in labor costs.

“During the pandemic, wages went through the roof, especially in the service industry," Billbrey said. "We had to compete with the McDonald’s of the world, who went from a minimum wage job to $15, $16, $17 and now about $20 an hour. If you go to In-N-Out [Burger], a kid’s gonna make about $21 an hour to start.”

Students who qualify for free or reduced lunch will still be able get the discounted rate.

The price of an elementary school breakfast will change from $1.50 to $2.50. Elementary lunches will go from $2.85 to $3.95. Secondary breakfast prices will change from $1.75 to $2.50. Secondary lunches will be either $3.95, $4.50 or $4.95 depending on the chosen entree. They were previously $3.10.