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Policy committee reviews changes to school nutrition policy to address rising lunch debt
Summary
Staff proposed revisions to Policy 8-04 to remove a 2022 USDA parenthetical and to change meal-charge rules after the district reimbursed school nutrition roughly $300,000 this year; principals reportedly support the changes.
The Union County Public Schools policy committee on June 17 reviewed proposed revisions to Policy 8-04 (operation of school nutrition services) meant to curb growing school lunch debt and to remove a parenthetical definition tied to a 2022 USDA memo.
"That parenthetical was put in there after a 2022 USDA memo was introduced. That memo has been removed and is presumably rescinded, under the new administration," a staff member said, explaining why district policy would strike that parenthetical. Staff also proposed changes to the meal-charges section to respond to increasing unpaid lunch balances that the district currently reimburses from other funds.
Mister Moore, a staff member, said the district had to reimburse school nutrition for roughly $300,000 this year. "Last year I think it was a little bit more than 400,000 but right now we're at 300,000," Moore said. A staff speaker summarized the impact by saying the reimbursement equated to "approximately the value of 5 teachers that we could have employed had we not had to reimburse for that debt." That comment was attributed to Shauna, a staff member.
Dr. Houlihan explained that the problem does not affect Community Eligibility Program schools, which receive free breakfast and lunch districtwide, nor is it primarily students eligible for free or reduced-price meals. "The community eligibility program ... those children receive the entire school receives free breakfast and lunch," Dr. Houlihan said, adding the issue is students who either have not applied for free and reduced-price meals or are ineligible and are purchasing lunch with insufficient funds.
Staff said they have met with school nutrition leadership and a group of principals; principals reportedly offered universal support for the proposed revisions. Committee members discussed strategies used by other districts, including offering an alternative meal or using consequences such as withholding parking passes, and staff said other districts they contacted typically carry much smaller unpaid balances — in the "40 to $50,000" range — compared with the district's three- to four-hundred-thousand-dollar level.
The committee voted to send the proposed revisions to the full board for first review at the July meeting. No formal policy change was adopted at the committee meeting.
