Student-meal debt is a common problem for U.S. schools — three-fourths of districts report the school year ends with some students still owing money for meals — and the amount owed is growing. The problem, often gaining attention in episodes of “lunch shaming,” is large enough to merit a national solution, said the leaders of an anti-hunger group and a yogurt company on Tuesday.
“It’s un-American. We need to solve it,” said Peter McGuiness, president of yogurt maker Chobani, in criticizing schools for stigmatizing pupils who owe money for meals. Some schools serve an alternative, less-appetizing meal to students with debts, according to a report by the antihunger Food Research and Action Center (FRAC). Others give verbal or written reminders to students or require them to phone home about their debts. In some instances, according to news stories, schools stamp the hands or place stickers on pupils who owe money.
Chobani stepped in to pay meal debt in a handful of school districts before “we recognized that this is a national crisis,” said McGuiness during a teleconference.
The School Nutrition Association, representing school food directors, said the median amount of debt reported by school districts rose to $3,400 this year, from $2,500 in 2018 and $2,000 in 2014. The portion of schools reporting debts — three-quarters — has been fairly constant. Among 570 districts that reported their totals, meal debt was a combined $10.9 million. There are around 13,800 public school districts in the nation. “Charitable contributions is the source most often cited” to describe how the debts are retired, said the SNA 2019 School Nutrition Trends Report.
Meal debt arises among low-income families, said FRAC president Jim Weill. In some cases, parents do not realize their children would qualify for free or reduced-price meals. In other cases, the families don’t qualify. “Parents are struggling,” he said, and “kids fall through the cracks.”
FRAC advocates broader use of the Community Eligibility Provision, which allows schools in poor neighborhoods to serve meals for free to all students; prohibitions on lunch shaming; direct communication by schools with parents, rather than through students; and greater outreach to families to ensure access to school meals.
Rep. Marcia Fudge filed a bill on Tuesday to provide more money to schools for direct certification of students for free and reduced-price meals and more flexibility to implement the Community Eligibility Provision. “With more than ten million children struggling with food insecurity across the country, free school meals are critical to fighting childhood hunger,” said the Ohio Democrat.
The School Nutrition Association supports universal free school meals. “Providing school meals at no charge will remove long-standing barriers, including the cumbersome free and reduced-price meal application process and the persistent stigma that many students associate with receiving meal assistance,” it said in a policy statement.