A family with two high schoolers at Coral Reef Senior High will spend roughly $268 a month on cafeteria meals when Miami-Dade County Public Schools resumes charging for breakfast and lunch this fall. That's $4.20 per lunch and $2.50 per breakfast, per student, over about 20 school days each month.
The first day of school is Aug. 13.
The application for free or reduced-price meals opens three days earlier, on Monday, Aug. 10, at mdcpsnutrition.net.
Seven local schools are affected. According to the district's CEP list, Coral Reef Elementary, Cutler Ridge Elementary, Devon Aire K-8 Center and Palmetto Elementary are non-CEP elementary and K-8 campuses. Coral Reef Senior High, Cutler Bay Senior High and Palmetto Middle are non-CEP secondary schools. Only Cutler Bay Middle remains a CEP school where every student eats free.
The price breakdown
The costs differ by grade level, according to the M-DCPS press release announcing the new structure on July 23:
- Elementary and K-8 (Coral Reef Elementary, Cutler Ridge Elementary, Devon Aire K-8, Palmetto Elementary): Breakfast is free. Full-price lunch is $4.20; reduced-price lunch is 40 cents.
- Middle and high school (Coral Reef Senior High, Cutler Bay Senior High, Palmetto Middle): Full-price breakfast is $2.50 (reduced: 30 cents). Full-price lunch is $4.20 (reduced: 40 cents).
For families who qualify for reduced pricing, the monthly cost for two middle or high school students drops to about $28 instead of $268.
How to apply
The application opens Monday, Aug. 10, at mdcpsnutrition.net. One application covers all children in a household. The district describes the process as confidential and mobile-friendly.
Families receiving SNAP, TANF or Medicaid, or whose children are in Head Start, foster care, or classified as homeless, runaway or migrant, are automatically approved for free meals and do not need to apply.
Everyone else has a cushion: all students at non-CEP schools will eat free for the first 30 days of the school year while eligibility determinations are processed. That grace period runs through approximately mid-September.
Why the change
M-DCPS participated in the federal Community Eligibility Provision for four years, providing free meals districtwide. Updated federal data determined the district no longer qualifies. The district cited changing demographics and fewer newcomer students as reasons the eligibility calculations shifted. The School Board approved the new pricing at its July 22 meeting.
"Our goal is to protect families from any hardship while keeping free breakfast and lunch available to as many students as possible," Chief Operations Officer Luis E. Diaz said in the district's July 23 announcement. "We're launching a comprehensive outreach campaign to ensure families have clear, step-by-step guidance."
In a July 30 op-ed in Community Newspapers, Diaz added that M-DCPS is deploying multilingual communications, Parent Portal outreach, Parent Academy resources and school-based support teams to help families complete the process.
What to do before Aug. 13
Families at the seven affected schools should visit mdcpsnutrition.net starting Monday, Aug. 10, or call 786-275-0400, ext. 5000, for assistance. The 30-day grace period buys time, but applying early avoids a gap in benefits once it expires in mid-September.
