I'm sure if there's increased costs, it's tax-subsidized somehow or other, and we're all paying for it whether we know it or not.

I don't think school lunch price ever changed when I was going elementary school all the way to high school in the mid-60's through early 70's.  It was 25 cents and my bet it was subsidized, even back then.

In high school when they had cheeseburgers or fishburgers for lunch me and my friends would go eat lunch and then stand in line again to eat another one, lol!

Free and reduced school lunch programs are more than just cost savings for those families.  Those numbers are used to qualify for a large number of other school monies from teacher hiring to building renovations and expansion.

Every year, we were highly encouraged to complete and return a school lunch assistance application even though we made way too much to qualify.  One example given on the forms was that a student whose family has any ties to federal government meant more federal dollars being funneled into the Hawaii DOE.  Ties meant being military, living on federal property, being a federal civilian employee, receiving federal assistance, etc.  Anything in that realm represented another potential golden goose for the school.

Short story:  the more kids they have on free and reduced lunch rosters, the more federal funding the schools receive.

all these foods dont appear to cheap. Anyone shopping at While Foods can see that.  Im curious to see the contracts being awarded to these local food producers...Last I read Hawaii is not globally competitive in the pineapple marketplace...