There are many factors that contribute to school meal debt. Schools may or may not accrue meal debt depending on their status as a pricing or non-pricing school. Of the 131 local school divisions (Local Education Agency, or LEA) in Virginia in school year 2025-26:

• 14 were fully pricing, requiring a meal payment for students receiving meals in the paid eligibility category in all schools in the division;

• 22 were mixed, with some pricing and some non-pricing schools, and;

• 95 were fully non-pricing, serving meals to all students at no cost through the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) and collecting no student meal payments.

As of June 30, 2026, the statewide school meal debt in Virginia school divisions was $8,627,247.48. School divisions in Superintendent’s Region 4, Northern Virginia, are some of the largest in student population and account for 56.1% of Virginia’s total meal debt.

Appendix B summarizes the meal debt by local school division, including a CEP indicator.