Meal Prices and Payment

Student Meal Prices School Year 2020- 2021

Lunch is $3.00 this school year, for all grade levels. Many students are eligible for free lunch, to see if this applies to your student, please review details on qualifying for free lunch meals here: dcps.dc.gov/farm

Breakfast and afterschool snack and supper programs are free for all DCPS students.

Student Meal Payment

Student meal accounts are automatically established through the student ID number upon enrollment. When a student goes through the lunch line to receive a meal, they provide the cafeteria manager their name or student ID number. The cost of the meal ($3.00) is then applied to their student meal account.

Students will never be denied a meal based on their meal account balance. The account will however continue to accrue a negative balance.

Students can pay for meals in two ways:

1. By sending a check or money order made payable to DC Treasurer to:     

                           DCPS Food & Nutrition Services
                           1200 First Street, NE, 9^th Floor
                           Washington, DC 20002
    Please note: The student ID# must be included on check for processing.                                           

2. By paying with credit or debit card at myschoolbucks.com, an online prepayment service. There is a service charge of $2.49 per transaction with this service.
   • Receive low balance notifications to remind account holders when funds are low.
   • Setup automatic payments to add money to account when it reaches a low balance.

Negative Meal Balance Notification

If a student’s balance goes below zero, the student’s parent/guardian will receive communication with the amount due on the meal account balance and instructions to put money into their student’s account. Routinely throughout the school year, parents/guardians of students with negative meal balances will receive courtesy communications through email and text regarding meal balances.

There is no limit to the amount of negative balance a student can accrue. There are no alternative meals served to a student with a negative balance. Students will continue to accrue negative balances until additional funds are put into their account. When funds are put into a student’s account, it will first pay off the negative balance. If a student’s balance is not paid at the end of the year, it will roll over into the next school year.

Deactivate Student Lunch Account

By deactivating a student’s lunch account, the student will not be able to receive a meal or milk during lunch. They will still be able to receive free breakfast and afterschool snack or supper. This ensures that there will be no meal or milk lunch charges to a student’s account.

Deactivate Student Lunch Account