Officials with the Wake County Public School System said they are expecting to fall $3 million short of the amount needed for the rest of the 2024-25 school year.
The biggest contributing factor is the rising cost of school meals in the district.
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For the 2024-25 school year, a full lunch costs $3.50 in elementary schools and $3.75 in middle and high schools.
Those prices were raised in May for the third year straight. Families are paying 75 cents more for school lunch this year than they were three years ago.
"Schools meals are just as important as school books," said Stephanie Hall with the School Nutrition Association of North Carolina.
On average, if an elementary school student were to get a school lunch every day of the school year at the current price, $3.50, it could cost families an average of $619 per student for the school year.
For middle and high school students, lunch costs families $663.75 per student for the school year.
In addition, the district is paying cafeteria workers 50% more than they were paid in the 2018-2019 school year. In that same time period, food costs have increased by 40%.
"You hear it all the time, 'Everything is higher,'" Hall said. "The pandemic did not help us at all."
The district no longer receives COVID relief funding to help offset some of the costs.
It is not the only funding issue the district faces.
District officials said they are also coming up short of funds for criminal record checks and charter school payments. While the district has hired more people, that leaves less money to cover other expenses.
Christina Jones, a Wake County parent and a member of the Raleigh City Council, believes the state needs to help fill the funding gaps.
"It all comes back to the state level," she said. "The money is there."
Earlier in 2024, the district announced an additional 20 schools in the district would offer free breakfast and lunch to students. It is unclear on how these will be affected by the budget shortfall.