School Nutrition

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Meal Prices & Payments

Meal Prices

Elementary: $1.25 for Breakfast, $2.85 for Lunch

Secondary: $1.25 for Breakfast, $3.10 for Lunch

All sites: Free & Reduced price – $0.00 for Breakfast and Lunch

Adult (including school staff): $2.25 for Breakfast, $4.25 for Lunch

What Makes a Meal

The USDA requires a meal, better known as a “combo meal,” to include at least one fruit, vegetable, or fruit juice. The student’s lunch selection to make a combo meal must include an entrée paired with at least one fruit, veggie, or fruit juice option for the day. A Breakfast combo meal is an entrée paired with at least one fruit and/or fruit juice option for the day.

All the fruit, veggie, and juice options available for the day in each serving line are included with the meal without extra charge. If the student chooses more than one of a single item (for instance, two oranges) the second orange will be a small extra charge.

One carton of milk is included with every meal but is never required.
Individual items, such as a single veggie or a carton of milk without a meal, are subject to being rung up as a la carte purchases. Students can choose to purchase milk and sides to supplement their own lunch brought from home.

Snack and a la carte options

We have several snack items available for students to add to their lunch or keep for later. These items differ based on grade level; elementary school students have a few options, whereas high school students have several more. Elementary students may also be limited on the number of days ice cream is available for purchase.

A la carte purchases cannot be charged on credit to the negative in a student’s account; only meals can be charged. Please see the MISD charging policy for more details

Meal Payments

Prepaying into your student’s account is the easiest way to ensure they have sufficient funds for cafeteria purchases. Prepayments can be made 2 ways:

• By cash or check at the cafeteria line. Please write your student’s name and ID number on the memo line and the check must be made payable to “McKinney ISD Food Service” or “MISD Food Service”. Checks made out to other names, even if it is associated with an MISD school, may not be accepted by the bank or accounting department.
• Online by credit/debit or electronic check at My School Bucks. You will need your student’s 6 digit ID number to make an account. If you do not know your student’s ID, please contact their campus. My School Bucks now has an option available to pay an annual, one-time flat fee of $12.95 for a single student or $26.95 for a family. The “OnePay” option gives you unlimited transactions for 12 months, instead of the per-transaction fee of $2.75 for individual transactions. Please note that if you don’t specify the OnePay option when signing up, the system will charge $2.75 per transaction no matter the amount of funds you are loading, so the OnePay option is a better deal if you will consistently add money or are on a recurring transaction plan.

Any remaining funds in a student’s account at the end of each school year will remain in their account for the following year, even if they move campuses in MISD. If you have questions about your student’s balance, or if your student no longer attends MISD and you wish to inquire about a refund, please contact the School Nutrition office at 469-302-6363.

Meal Charging Policy

Students without sufficient funds in their account may charge up to 3 breakfast or lunch meals to allow for nutrition while funds are added to their account, but this will take their account negative. Once a student has reached their negative maximum, a courtesy meal will be provided until positive funds are reestablished to allow for further purchases.

• At breakfast, a courtesy meal is two slices of toast, paired with the student’s choice of fruit, milk, and/or 4 oz. fruit juice. At lunch, a courtesy meal is a sunbutter and jelly sandwich, paired with the student’s choice of fruit, vegetable, milk, and/or 4 oz. fruit juice.
• No charging for any a la carte items
• No charging for adults

Student Account FAQs

How soon are funds I add available?
Cash or check additions are instantly available as long as it is deposited at the student’s campus.

Online payments made through My School Bucks can sometimes take up to 48 hours to process depending on your bank and card, although typically funds will take around 24 hours to process into the student’s account. Adding funds the same day they are needed is unlikely to enable your student to use those funds.

Is there a way I can monitor my student’s cafeteria purchases?
Yes, My School Bucks accounts are free, so if you wish to set up an account just to monitor what your student is buying, you can do that without needing to use the payment system function. Any cafeteria purchases made are updated on the My School Bucks website and app at the end of the day.

Are recurring or automatic draft plans available?
The My School Bucks system does have many options for automatic and recurring payments. The best way to ensure your student always has adequate funds is to set up an automatic draft that is initiated when the balance falls below a certain amount.

How Can I Be Alerted When the Balance is Low?
MySchoolBucks has email alert options you can set for when a student’s balance falls below whatever level you determine is too low for your student, which is called their “low balance threshold.” As stated above, it might be safer to set up an automatic draft to ensure students always have funds, but if you wish to just be alerted, and then send a check or cash with your student in person, MySchoolBucks has options to do that instead. If you set up alerts, be sure to check your junk mail folder and mark them as safe if they are being filtered out.

Why is my student saying they were not allowed to get a meal?
We have a courtesy meal option because it is against our policy to deny a student adequate nutrition. However, the student may have refused the courtesy meal. They will be offered a courtesy meal when their account reaches the charging maximum.

How can I be alerted when the balance is low?
MySchoolBucks has email alert options you can set for when a student’s balance falls below whatever level you determine is too low for your student, which is called their “low balance threshold.” As stated above, it might be safer to set up an automatic draft to ensure students always have funds. But if you wish to just be alerted, and then send a check or cash with your student in person, MySchoolBucks has options to do that instead. If you do set up alerts, be sure to check your junk mail folder and mark them as safe if they are being filtered out.

Why is my student saying they were not allowed to get a meal?
We have a courtesy meal option because it is against our policy to deny a student adequate nutrition. However, the student may have refused the courtesy meal. They will be offered a courtesy meal when their account does not have sufficient negative credit to allow for a meal to be charged.

How do I create a cafeteria account for my student?
An account is created automatically for each student when they register with MISD. The account will be active as long as the child continues to be enrolled in the district.

Can I restrict my student’s cafeteria purchases?
We have some options available in our system to allow you to control purchasing. The best way to set this up is to call the School Nutrition Department and talk through your concerns so we can set up the best program for you. If your concern centers around allergies and dietary issues, that would be best handled by our registered dietician and may involve the school nurse.

Who can I contact if I have other questions about my student’s cafeteria account?
For any questions regarding your student’s account, please call the School Nutrition office 469-302-6363. Office hours are 8:00 AM to 4:15 PM Monday through Friday.

Need Help?

If you need additional assistance with the content on this page, please contact the McKinney ISD School Nutrition Department by phone at 469-302-6363 or by email here .