Associations look into unpaid school meal obligations

CSBA and other organizations are working with local education agencies and the state government to research and resolve a school meal controversy recently highlighted by Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez.

The speaker had reacted to news accounts that some students who had unpaid balances on their school meal accounts were given different meals than those offered to other students. Some districts provided cheese sandwiches to those students, while others limited students to items from the salad bar. This practice is used as an incentive for parents to pay the balances.

Núñez sent a letter to all school district and county superintendents voicing his strong disapproval of this practice, and he followed up with an op-ed in the Los Angeles Daily News July 4.

“As someone who endured the stigma of being a ‘free lunch kid,’ I understand the impact this kind of differential treatment can have on children, on their self-esteem, and on their relationships with their classmates,” Núñez wrote in his opinion piece.

While not universal, this practice is used by numerous districts. Cumulatively, unpaid balances can amount to significant sums of money for financially strapped school meal programs. In some districts, the PTA or other organizations have paid student obligations, but they eventually found the cost too high to sustain. In contrast, when implemented after multiple attempts to contact parents, the provision of alternative meals has been fairly effective in getting debts cleared.

Representatives of CSBA, the Association of California School Administrators, the California Association of School Business Officials and the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association have met with the speaker’s staff on this issue. They agreed to help get a better understanding of the issue by determining:

• why districts employ this approach
• what barriers prevent them from collecting outstanding meal debts from parents
• what other means of collections have been successful
• what groups of students are most likely to have account balances

Joined by the California School Nutrition Association, the education associations have sent a joint letter to all county and district superintendents, chief business officials and food service directors pledging to work with the speaker on this issue and to collaborate with the California Department of Education on a more in-depth survey. Together, the parties hope to resolve the issue to everyone's satisfaction.

School Wellness Conference

The issue of providing healthy meals to students is part of a much larger effort to address the overall wellness of students. In that regard, CSBA, the CDE and California Department of Public Health have joined with a multitude of other partners to present a groundbreaking statewide effort to improve the learning environments and overall healthy eating and physical education of public school children in our state.

This inaugural School Wellness Conference, Oct. 1-2 in Anaheim, is designed to bring school board members, superintendents, food service directors, school nurses, teachers, administrators, parents and students together to improve the wellness of children. More information, including how to register for the School Wellness Conference, can be found here.