Students who qualify for free and reduced lunches but don’t utilize the assistance program cost the Iola school district $2,000 per student per year. To make matters worse, the parents of these students renege on paying for the school-provided lunches that their children take advantage of. When coupled, the issue costs the school between $50,000 and $120,000 annually, USD 257 Superintendent Brian Pekarek estimated at Monday night’s school board meeting.
“We get hurt in the front end and on the back end, too,” he said, referring to the parents who don’t take advantage of the federally funded lunch program and then also don’t pay their child’s lunch bill.
Also, Pekarek said the Iola school district incurs between $30,000 and $40,000 in unpaid student lunches each year, making the district’s already troubling financial situation worse.
“All 289 (unified school districts) have unidentified free and reduced lunch kids. It’s just so hard to maximize those numbers,” he said. A household of four must have an income of less than $41,348 to qualify for the meal assistance program.
To further the point, Middle School principal Jack Stanley told board members the middle school alone saw between $13,000 and $16,000 in unpaid lunches this year.
To remedy the problem, Pekarek made a proposal to the board members. During his pitch, he spoke of a past experience.
While superintendent at the Clifton-Clyde school district, Pekarek implemented a $20 per student pay-to-play fee that was waived if parents filled out the standard enrollment form. While filling out the enrollment form, school officials then strongly encouraged parents to fill out the free and reduced lunch form as well, he said.
“What happened in (USD 244) is we acquired $25,000 each year in new funding. And that (district) is a quarter the size of this district,” Pekarek said.
Pekarek suggested USD 257 implement a $10 per student book fee which could be waived if parents fill out an enrollment form. Similar to the Clifton-Clyde policy, parents would then be encouraged to fill out the free and reduced lunch form, he said.
While all six board members in attendance agreed the district is losing a significant amount of money and something should be done to stop the bleeding, reaching an agreement on the best bandage didn’t come so easily.
“If they’re not paying their lunch bill, they’re probably not going to pay their book bill,” said board member Darrel Catron, who wasn’t too keen on the stick approach.
Because parents must report their household income in order to qualify for free and reduced lunches, which is a significant reason so many choose not to, board members Tony Leavitt, Mark Burris and Buck Quincy all voiced concerns about personal privacy.
“How do we protect (parents’) privacy? I wouldn’t want to put down how much I make either,” Burris said.
Leavitt agreed.
“There’s a stigma attached to (disclosing) your salary,” Leavitt said.
Pekarek said he was open to a number of solutions as long as more at-risk children were identified in the end.
Failing to reach a consensus, the board agreed to discuss the issue further at the July 25 board meeting.
Unpaid lunch bills carry large price tag
