CHARLOTTE -- School cafeterias statewide are struggling to cover the costs of lunch programs amid dramatic price increases for gas, food and labor. In the past four years, North Carolina schools have seen a 26 percent increase in food costs. Now schools are bracing for another price hike next year.

Sticker shock at the grocery store is taking a toll on school lunch programs across the state. While students may be paying less than $2 a school lunch meal, schools are digging deeper into their pockets to make up for the spike.

"Normally we look at 3 [percent] to 4 percent increase each year. These double-digit increases have really hit all the school systems hard,” child nutritionist Cindy Hobbs.

Flour, which was $8 a bag last year, is now $21 a bag, and the value of corn has gone up 50 percent, as well. In some cases, healthy options like fruit have increased 20 percent to 25 percent.

Fuel costs aren't making things any easier on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System either.

"We're projecting that the fuel costs for this year will be $1.2 million more than last year,” CMS Superintendent Dr. Peter Gorman said.

"Fortunately we won't have to go up in price of lunch next year because we've managed to keep a budget surplus this year so we believe we can absorb the cost by streamlining things and cutting costs,” Hobbs said.

But even that could mean less variety for students as CMS potentially prepares to come up with another million dollars to cover the cost of food.

At a state legislative conference last week, schools statewide asked for about $20 million to help fund the nutrition standards legislators have put into place.

CMS said it is also asking the federal government for more money to help pay for free and reduced lunches.