Families at Brighton High and other Canyons School District secondary schools will pay $3.00 for lunch starting Monday, Aug. 17, when the new school year begins. Elementary lunches will cost $2.50. Both represent the district's first meal price increases since the 2022-23 school year.

The Canyons Board of Education approved the higher rates in a 4-1 vote on June 16. Board members Katie Dahle, Karen Pedersen, President Amber Shill and Vice President Amanda Oaks voted yes. Jackson Lewis cast the lone no vote.

Business Administrator Leon Wilcox told the board the increases were driven by "a 16 percent increase in the consumer price index for food" since prices were last set, according to the district's board summary. Breakfast will also go up: $2.00 at elementary schools and $2.25 at secondary schools. Adult meals, served at programs like Entrada Adult High School, will be $4.00 for breakfast and $6.00 for lunch.

Board member Jackson Lewis, in his board report, encouraged the Canyons community to contact state legislators in support of a universal school meals program funded by the state.

The price hike had originally been approved for the 2020-21 school year but was delayed after federal COVID relief subsidized school lunches. It finally took effect in 2022-23, according to board minutes. The current increase builds on that baseline.

Six schools that participate in the federal Community Eligibility Provision will continue serving free breakfast and lunch to all students regardless of income: Copperview, East Midvale, Midvale, Midvalley and Sandy elementary schools, plus Midvale Middle School. None of those campuses are in Cottonwood Heights or Holladay.

For a Brighton High student eating school lunch every day, the new rate works out to $540 over a 180-day school year.

The meal vote came at the same June 16 meeting where the board first discussed relocating the Life Skills Academy and Entrada Adult High School to the Bella Vista building at 2131 Fort Union Blvd. in Cottonwood Heights. The board formally approved that move on July 7, giving the two programs a shared campus starting in 2027-28.

The next Canyons Board of Education business meeting is Tuesday, Aug. 18, at 7 p.m. at the district office, 9361 S. 300 E., Sandy. A study session begins at 4:30 p.m.