5 Ideas to Reduce Unpaid Meal Debt in Your District
BY SAMANTHA MURILLO FORMER STATE AGENCY CONSULTANT & PRODUCT MARKETING MANAGER LINQ
Since the end of the federal waiver for school meals, districts have reported growing levels of unpaid meal debt. According to a nationwide survey from the School Nutrition Association, current unpaid meal debt stands at $19.2 million. If your district is facing this challenge, here are five ideas that may help. 1. PARTNER WITH YOUR PTA Your PTA is a valuable resource for helping to raise funds. Leveraging the PTA and other community relationships to create a contribution fund can help pay down unpaid lunch debt throughout the school year. 2. INVEST IN THE RIGHT NUTRITION SOFTWARE Your nutrition software can be instrumental in collecting contributions to fund school meals— including providing an easy way for the school community to support students in need of nutritious meals. Check if your nutrition program has a feature that allows families to contribute additional funds to Feed It Forward. If your current nutrition software doesn’t include that feature, consider creating an optional “Feed It Forward Fund Fee” through your payment platform. 3. CONDUCT DIRECT CERTIFICATION THROUGHOUT THE YEAR Run direct certification throughout the year to identify any students who have become eligible
for school meals. Direct certification is the process of certifying students eligible for free meals based on participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR). 4. GET CREATIVE WITH COLLECTING MEAL APPLICATIONS Find creative ways to encourage families to apply for free and reduced-price lunches. Include reminders for how to submit meal applications in weekly newsletters. Set up stations during parent- teacher conferences to answer questions. The greater the outreach, the higher the likelihood you can identify those students eligible for free or reduced-price meals. 5. REEVALUATE YOUR NUTRITION OPERATIONS Consider your current school meal operations. Your district may be eligible to participate in the Community Eligibility Program (CEP). CEP allows participating schools and districts to serve breakfast and lunch at no charge to all students for a 4-year period. To qualify, you must have a minimum Identified Student Percentage greater than or equal to 40 percent. The Identified Student Percentage is the portion of students certified for free meals without the use of household applications.
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