OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — The Shawnee Mission School District is changing school lunch debt policy after negative account balances have more than doubled.
Beginning next school year, all unpaid lunch debts will be sent to collections at the end of each semester.
In the fall of 2018, the Board of Education approved a policy that would guarantee a full meal to students regardless of their account balance. They became the first school district in Johnson County to make the change.
“It’s not the child's fault if the family is having trouble paying that debt, so we don’t want kids to feel any sense of being differentiated or feeling shame about that,” Shawnee Mission School District spokesperson David Smith said.
Prior to the change, students with a negative balance would be given a toasted cheese sandwich and milk.
Since making the policy change, the negative balances grew throughout the district. Smith said there’s always been school lunch debt, but before the change, the average debt was around $5,000. As of March, it was more than $16,000.
“It’s about $12,000 more than what it had been previously,” Smith said.
On Monday the school board unanimously approved an update to the policy. The district said the goal of sending debt to collections twice a year is to give parents an incentive to pay any negative balance or sign up for lunch programs.
“We make a lot of attempts," Smith said. "We reach out to families to try to one, if they’re eligible for a free and reduced lunch to get them enrolled in that, but then also to make sure that their debt is paid."
Lunches in the district cost $2.65 for elementary school students and $2.80 for middle and high school students.
