Students in the Kansas City area have racked up thousands of dollars in school lunch debt since universal free lunch ended two years ago.
During the pandemic, the federal government issued waivers that allowed all school districts to offer free meals to all students. Congress let the program expire in fall 2022.
Student lunch debt skyrocketed after the change. School nutritionists said many families who would have qualified didn’t fill out the application for free and reduced lunch after not needing to for two years, and struggled to adjust to making lunch payments.
Lori Danella, the Lee’s Summit School District's nutrition director, said students owe even more this year. She said the district had accumulated about $79,000 in student lunch debt by the end of the school year. Danella said that’s about $25,000 more than last year.
Danella said the district’s families are still struggling because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“They're in different jobs, they've lost benefits, and groceries are so high, rent, mortgage — everything that they have to pay,” Danella said. “They are paying all of their necessities first, and school lunch is kind of down on the bottom of their list. They know we're going to feed their kids no matter what.”
School districts across the metro have seen lunch debt soar. Students in the Blue Springs School District, owed more than $235,000 when an elementary student raised more than $7,300 to help pay it off.
As of last month, students in the Shawnee Mission School District owed about $172,277 in meal debt. In the 2023-24 school year, students at North Kansas City Schools accrued more than $75,000.
At the end of the school year, Olathe Public Schools' food services sent $50,336.65 to be collected for dues of $20 or more.
At the start of this school year, Olathe students will still owe $18,663 in meal debt from students who owe up to $20.
About 40% of Kansas districts turn unpaid debt over to collection agencies or courts.
Student meal debt in Kansas reached about $23.5 million after universal free meals ended — about six times what districts reported in 2019, according to the Kansas Appleseed report. In Missouri, students owe $43,905,666.
School districts have to pay off meal debts out of their own budgets because federal policy doesn’t allow them to use the United States Department of Agriculture funds they receive for school lunch programs to do so.
“Having this debt takes away from the education of the students, because it's using education funds instead of nutrition funds,” Danella said.
Danella said individuals, businesses and churches also make donations that lower debt for students. In North Kansas City, $20,000 in donations and fundraising reduced the amount paid out of educational funds to $55,000. Olathe Public Schools uses the Cindy Jones Families-in-Need Fund to help cover lunch debt.
About 2,000 students owe money in Lee’s Summit, but all students have the same experience whether they pay a full rate, receive free or reduced lunch or have a negative balance, Danella said.
“They just come up and they get everything all the other students get, they get their entree, they get the full salad bar, they get all their choices,” Danella said.
But Danella said universal free lunches were “a lifesaver” for nutrition services. The program means less paperwork for staff and more children eating school lunch. Higher participation means the school districts receive more federal reimbursement dollars that cover costs like food and labor.
In the Kansas City area, Kansas City Public Schools; Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools and the Hickman Mills School District offer universal free lunch under a federal program that allows school districts with a large population of high-needs students to make everyone’s lunches free.
Danella and anti-hunger advocates across the country are pushing states to provide free meals to all students — regardless of income. Several states including California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Minnesota havepassed legislation to do so.
Missouri considered but didn’t pass bills last legislative session that would create free school lunches. Danella said more families need to let lawmakers know the financial need for action.
“Everybody is still suffering,” Danella said.
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