School lunch debt mounts
Student meal debt is rising rapidly in many school districts across the country, including those in Southwestern Pennsylvania, after federal lawmakers in June ended funding that made school meals free for all students during the pandemic.
The end of universal free meals comes at the same time that inflation and rising labor costs are driving up food prices for schools, forcing some to raise their meal prices.
That means struggling families who were paying for meals before are now paying even more.
Results from a new national survey by the School Nutrition Association show 847 schools are owed $19.2 million in lunch debt since the school year began.
The amount of lunch debt varied widely among schools and districts, but in Pennsylvania, meal debt has soared 200% between the end of the 2021-22 school year to mid-October, according to the School Nutrition Association of Pennsylvania.
“Our school lunch debt has increased by about three to four times more than during the pandemic years,” said Jennifer Foringer, business manager and food service director at Jefferson-Morgan School District in Greene County.
The school district already has accrued about $1,000 in school meal debt for the current school year.
If those debts aren’t paid by the family, it is the school district’s responsibility to cover those costs.
In order for students to qualify for free lunch, a family of four must earn $36,075 a year or less and families must fill out paperwork to qualify for aid.
California Area School District has seen “an incredible jump in free and reduced-lunch applications this year,” said Superintendent Dr. Laura Jacob.
Bridget Dennison, Director of Food and Nutrition at California Area, said the district also has experienced an increase in unpaid meal debt since the end of the pandemic waivers.
But students are not turned away from the cafeteria, even if they have an unpaid balance in their school meal account.
Food service directors are working to educate families about the growing debt and the need to apply for free and reduced-priced lunches, if they are eligible.
Some districts, including Bentworth and Laurel Highlands, can continue serving lunch and breakfast at no charge for every student because they qualify under what’s called the Community Eligibility Provision, which allows for universal meals in low-income areas.
California, Maine, Colorado, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Nevada all provide state funding to ensure free meals for all their students, and other states may follow.
In Pennsylvania, state Sens. Lindsey Williams and Judith Schwank have introduced the “No Student Should Go Hungry Universal School Meals” legislation that would dedicate $275 million per year to feed all Pennsylvania students breakfast and lunch.
“With families facing higher costs across the board, now is not the time to take a step backwards – especially when the estimated cost to feed every student in Pennsylvania would be a small fraction of our overall budget,” Williams wrote.
Currently, all Pennsylvania students receive a free breakfast under the Universal Free Breakfast Program that began in October 2022, but that program will expire at the end of the 2022-23 school year.
Increasingly, school districts are seeing individuals and organizations step up to make donations to help pay school lunch debts off, the SNA reported.
For example, in Laurel Highlands, school district resident Alan George donated $8,311 to eliminate school lunch debt for the 311 students who owed money before the 2022-23 school year started, according to Jason Johns, Director of Food Service at Laurel Highland School District.
Meanwhile, students’ nutrition is linked to their academic performance in the classroom.
School nutrition directors continue to advocate for universal free lunches, saying the meals also play a role in alleviating food insecurity and providing a healthy, nutritious meal.
Foringer, who is in favor of free lunches, said those meals “sometimes are the only meals that are available to kids.”
Said Johns, “Our goal is to provide healthy, safe, and nutritious meals to all of our students, and this would go a long way in ensuring all students have the nutrients they need to be successful in class.”