Dare County school board removes meal-account cap, asks commissioners to fund universal meals pilot

The Dare County Board of Education voted Thursday to strip a dollar-cap reference from policy 62-20 and to seek county funding for a pilot universal (free) school meals program.

At a special meeting at the Dare County Administrative Building in Manteo, the board moved to remove red-line language that would have limited students from accruing charges once a negative meal-account balance reached $10. A board member said the change removes any cap and leaves collection and account-management procedures to be addressed separately. “We're not going to withhold any lunches because of [a negative balance],” the board member said during discussion.

District staff and board members then discussed whether to pursue the federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) or a universal free-meals option. Kalita Govan, identified in the meeting as district staff responsible for meal-program data, explained that the district’s identified student percentage (ISP) used for CEP calculations is based on direct certification (students enrolled in SNAP, TANF, Medicaid, homelessness, foster care, migrant/runaway status, or principal certification), not on parent applications. Govan said the district had processed about 500 free/reduced applications so far and that staff had improved the parent portal link to make applications easier to find.

Staff reported short-term participation increases after the board began offering free breakfasts and lunches: a seven-day comparison showed districtwide breakfast participation up about 31% and lunch up about 14.7%, with middle and high schools seeing larger increases. District staff also provided an estimate that roughly 2,000 lunches were served last year (used in some internal calculations). Finance and operations staff explained how federal reimbursements differ by meal type; examples cited in the discussion included a 51¢ reimbursement on a paid lunch and higher reimbursement rates for free and reduced-price lunches.

Board members discussed meal debt and operational burden. Rashad, a district finance/operations speaker, said end-of-year exposure in the meal-charge account had historically reached about $115,000 but had been reduced through collection work to roughly $24,000 this year after effort by cafeteria staff and principals. Board members said cafeteria staff and principals often spend time and, in some reported cases, their own money to ensure students receive meals. “Our staff ... are taking money out of their pocket and putting it in cafeterias for kids to eat,” one board member said.

After debating funding pathways and implications for the district budget, the board voted to authorize the chair and the superintendent to approach the Dare County Board of Commissioners at their Oct. 7 meeting with a formal request for funding assistance to implement a universal lunch plan outside the school funding formula. The motion was seconded and approved by voice vote, recorded in the transcript as passing 6–1.

The board's changes to policy 62-20 remove the sentence that had limited additional charges for students at a negative balance and remove the sentence authorizing the superintendent to set a specific dollar limit; the board said collection methods remain a separate operational matter. Meeting materials cited the National School Lunch Program and CEP/USDA calculations as the federal framework for reimbursement and eligibility.

The board adjourned after approving the motions. The district plans to return to the commissioners on Oct. 7 with a drafted request and to continue analyzing participation and financial impacts as the district moves toward a pilot.