The Weekly Update · Jul. 24, 2026

SY 26-27 Reimbursement Rates & Adult Meal Pricing Tool

Here’s what you need to know this week:

SY 26-27 Reimbursement Rates

Last week, USDA posted SY 26-27 school meal reimbursement rates, and at the end of June California published the state meal reimbursement rate of $1.0302 per meal. See this year's rates aggregated via these handy charts:

For California schools, Breakfast rates are up 11-14 cents (depending on severe need status), and Lunch rates are up 14-19 cents (depending on 2-cent differential).

The federal USDA Foods rate for SY 26-27 is $0.32 (this is your Cash-in-Lieu amount for CACFP!), but we’re still awaiting California’s state adjustment for NSLP. Also TBD are the other CACFP reimbursement rates.

Adult Meal Pricing Tool

Since we don't have the NSLP USDA Foods value for California yet, it’s a bit too early to determine the exact minimum price we should be charging for adult meals. However, we’ve gone ahead and updated our SY 26-27 Adult Meal Pricing Tool using last year’s commodity rate. Just be sure to add a few extra cents on top of your pricing as a buffer.

For California schools, we recommend charging at least $5 for Adult Breakfasts and $7 for Adult Lunches.

If that feels too steep, remember that this is for “complete” meals including entrees, fruits, veg, and milk. If adults just want an entree, your a la carte pricing can be less! We recommend pricing a la carte items at 2.5-3 x food costs to be in compliance with nonprogram food revenue rules.

School Nutrition Standards

We all know it’s been on the horizon, but it looks like we finally have some prospective dates on the much anticipated Meal Pattern updates. The proposed rule is not public yet, but we’re tracking USDA’s proposed Reducing Complexity and Food Waste in the Child Nutrition Programs rule, which is scheduled to open for public comment in September 2026.

From what we’re hearing, this will include meal pattern changes and new program integrity rules.

We’re also watching USDA rulemaking that could impact geographic preference and summer non-congregate. 👀

Meanwhile, USDA has released a voluntary, state-level P ledge for Healthier School Meals, framed as steps SFAs could take to align with the 2025-2030 DGAs. No immediate action required ~ just a good heads up since we've seen this circulating in the news quite a bit this week!

⭐️ Resources

📆 Upcoming Events

Jul. 29: CACFP Stay Connected Quarterly Webinar - CDSS
Jul. 30: CA Farm to School Network Call - CDFA
Jul. 30: Procuring with Efficiency: Writing Specifications That Work - ICN
✨ Aug. 6: The Lunch Break by LunchAssist ~ we'll discuss all things Back-to-School!
✨ Aug. 20: Procurement Review Prep Call by LunchAssist!

✨ Sep. 3: SY 26-27 SNP AR Kick-Off Call on The Lunch Break!

LunchAssist is an allowable use of the Cafeteria Fund, KIT Funds, and R&R Grant. 🥳 Schedule a demo to learn more.

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