Montgomery County parents may soon be paying an additional 30 cents for their children to eat chicken sandwiches, apple slices and broccoli in the school cafeteria.

Faced with the rising cost of food and labor, district leaders want to increase the price of school lunch and breakfast.

Montgomery County Public Schools hasn’t upped the price of school meals since 2015. Since then, the cost of ingredients has spiked and hourly pay for cafeteria workers has risen. Taken together, officials say the district’s annual dining expenses increased by more than $19 million over the past decade.

But school board members say they’re hesitant to foist that additional financial burden on families, especially as many reel from federal job losses and other economic strains.

“I’m having a really hard time with it,” said school board president Grace Rivera-Oven, who runs a non-profit focused on food insecurity.

Elementary school lunch currently costs $2.55. District officials want to set the price at $2.85 next year, before gradually increasing to $3.50 by 2029.

Lunch for older students would increase from $2.80 to $3.75 in that same time period.

Board members asked district staffers to explore alternative methods for covering the higher costs of feeding children. They did not vote on the proposal during their Thursday work session, but it remains on the table.

MCPS has accrued roughly $1.2 million in student meal debt, officials say.

Superintendent Thomas Taylor recently hosted a charity 5K aimed at chipping away at the hole, and just before Christmas, the district received a $230,000 donation to wipe away some of that debt.

Taylor said changes are needed to boost revenue.

If not, officials say students could feel the consequences in the cafeteria each day.

“We could consider removal of breakfast programs in some schools,” said Liz Leach, the district’s director of food and nutrition services. “If we reduce staff, it would result in increased wait times for meals. Likely, it would result in decreased quality of meals.”

The proposed price increase would not impact children who receive free meals at school. Students from low-income families can qualify for free or reduced-price meals through federal programs.

Leach said district leaders remain committed to their policy of feeding every child, as well as partnering with families burdened with debt.

“We’re going to provide a meal to a student every time they come through a serving line in MCPS, regardless of their meal eligibility, regardless of if they have money in their account,” she said. “They’re provided the same exact meal that their peer gets.”

The district charges less than neighboring school systems, including Prince George’s County. When MCPS last bumped up meal prices more than a decade ago, it only went up by 5 cents. Officials want to commit to reconsidering costs more frequently moving forward.

“We do recognize the burden of affordability in our community and are trying to balance that,” Taylor said. “But this is the cost of not adjusting meal prices.”