This year, full-price lunch costs $2.95 in elementary school and $3.20 in middle and high school. Breakfast is $1.60 for all grades.
Students eligible for reduced-price meals pay 30 cents for breakfast and 40 cents for lunch. There is no charge for meals served as part of the Breakfast-In-Classroom program.
The district noted schools with higher enrollment tend to have a higher level of lunch debt. Elementary schools with a high percentage of students qualifying for free and reduced-price meals, including York and Robberson, tend to have lower balances.
‘We do not do alternative lunches’ A 2023 report from the School Nutrition Association showed student lunch debt exceeded $19.2 million nationally following the expiration of the federal Keep Kids Fed Act of 2022 . The amount of lunch debt varied widely among schools and districts.
Federal waivers, making all school meals free, were in place following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020 through summer 2022.
This year, for the first time since he 2019-20 year, families who qualify for free or reduced-price school meals had to fill out paperwork to get the financial assistance.
In Springfield, students are not turned away from the cafeteria, even if they have an unpaid balance on their school meal account.
Years ago, students who had an unpaid balance or were unable to pay received a bare-bones “alternative” lunch, often a cheese sandwich. Community leaders appalled that students unable to pay were singled out, leaving them open to ridicule by classmates, led an effort to change the policy.
John Mulford, deputy superintendent of operations, said the district has not returned to the old policy.
“We do not do alternative lunches. They get the same meal everyone else gets,” Mulford said. “If they have a balance, they go through the normal lunch line.”
However, students with an unpaid balance are not allowed to charge elective snack or “a la cart” items that are in addition to the core meal options.
Mulford said it is not uncommon for schools to have an unpaid lunch balance as families pay at different times.
“One of the things we always take into account when we look at this is we do have families that will pay their bill monthly. Some of them wait until semester. We even have some that wait until the end of the year,” Mulford said. “While we try to prevent that and we communicate with the families regularly, there are a lot of families that do let it build and then they pay it off. It’s not that they can’t pay.”
The district does not know how many families have school lunch debt because they are struggling to make ends meet but do not qualify — or have not filled out the application — for free or reduced-price meals.
Mulford, in his second year with the district, said the debt level spread among all paying students does not appear to be that high, per student. However, it was unclear how many students owed and if some families had significantly more debt that others.
“Obviously it’s up from the last two years because we didn’t have any debt,” he said.
Options available to reduce school lunch debt, access help There is help available to families struggling to pay for school lunches.
Stephen Hall, chief communications officer, encourages all families to fill out the application for free or reduced-price school meals , even if they are unsure if they’ll qualify.
Families can apply at any time during the school year and eligibility for that help often opens the door to other assistance in the district.
The Foundation for Springfield Public Schools has also set up ways for individuals, businesses and community groups to donate to offset the debt.
“There is a great need to support the lunch debt. It seems to just get bigger and bigger,” Murdock said. “We do have a lot of donors who have asked about it and we provide an avenue for people to donate to support the lunch debt. We work really closely with lunch services on getting those funds to them so they can apply it to the appropriate accounts.”
Donations can be applied to students and schools with the highest need, or target debt at a specific school or in general in the following ways:
By check, payable to Foundation for SPS, mailed to 1131 N. Boonville, 65802. Please indicate “School Lunches” in the memo. By credit card at www.supportSPS.org/donate . Please indicate “School Lunches” in the designation box. “In past years we have had groups and community members that wanted to support a specific school … maybe their neighborhood school or alma mater,” Murdock said. “They can certainly do that.”
School lunch debt, by building Central − $6,997 Parkview − $5,048 Westport − $4,639 Hillcrest − $4,328 Glendale − $3,640 Carver − $3,254 Jarrett − $2,545 Reed − $2,292 Pleasant View − $2,234 Sherwood − $1,904 Jeffries − $1,678 Fremont − $1,665 McGregor − $1,529 Bingham − $1,406 Weaver − $1,301 Boyd − $1,106 Disney − $1,031 Twain − $996 Wilson’s Creek − $931 Watkins − $853 Pittman − $801 Pipkin − $792 Truman − $745 Sunshine − $740 Williams − $728 Cherokee − $710 Bissett − $699 Field − $678 Gray − $633 Mann − $607 Study Alternative − $606 Kickapoo − $581 Rountree − $510 Wilder − $463 Weller − $401 Delaware − $358 Cowden − $336 Campbell − $274 Phelps − $235 McBride − $191 Fulbright − $188 Shady Dell − $160 Bowerman − $127 York − $126 Harrison, Hickory Hills, Holland, Robberson, Sequiota − $100 or less Claudette Riley covers education for the News-Leader. Email tips and story ideas to criley@news-leader.com.
