Is your school district having trouble managing unpaid meal charges on student meal accounts for school breakfast and lunch programs? The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) agency released guidance last month to help state and local nutrition program leaders resolve unpaid meal charges while still ensuring children have access to nutritious meals. The guidance comes in the form of a report summary of best practices to resolve the issue, “Overcoming the Unpaid Meal Challenge: Proven Strategies from Our Nation’s Schools.” Not only is the report useful for nutrition managers, but also for school food authorities (SFAs), since SFAs are now required to develop a clear unpaid meal charge policy and communicate the plan with school administrators, food service professionals, and community stakeholders by July 1, 2017. (Learn more about the new requirement here.)
The practices and strategies included in the report were recommended by local nutrition program operators who shared their ideas with the USDA during its open comment period on unpaid meal charges earlier this year. Superintendents, principals, food service directors, and other school officials helped develop this guide to help other school professionals understand the matter and discover innovative ways to resolve unpaid meal issues. The guidance shares strategies that program operators can use to reach all eligible children; assist families with the school meal applications process; make payments for meals convenient; send families payment reminders; acquire “buy-in” for a local unpaid meal charge policy from the community; provide alternate meals as needed; and find alternative funding sources. Here are some of the report’s highlights:
- When establishing a delinquent debt policy for unpaid meal charges, consider options that will focus on the adults responsible for paying the fees instead of strategies that will negatively impact the children involved.
- Repayment of “bad debt” from unpaid meal charges is not an allowable cost to the school district and must be restored using non-federal funds. These funds may come from the school district’s general fund, special funding for state or local governments, or any other non-federal sources. Consider these options:
- State revenue matching funds in excess of the state revenue matching fund requirement.
- State/local funds provided to cover the price of student meals.
- Local contributions provided by community organizations or individuals.
- A la carte revenue and profit from foods not purchased using funds from the nonprofit school food service account (NSFSA), and funded from an account separate from the NSFSA.
- Revenue from catering or contracting services that operate using an account separate from the NSFSA.
- Children who aren’t directly certified for free meals must establish free/reduced-price meal eligibility through a household application. FNS strongly encourages school districts to use its Prototype Application for Free and Reduced Price School Meals. The application meets all statutory/regulatory requirements, and was tested in focus groups with low-income and Spanish-speaking families to ensure the application is easy to access and understand.
- School officials should take advantage of school events to connect with students’ families and help ensure they fill out meal application paperwork correctly. Schools may want to have a School Meals Booth during back-to-school night and other events.
- Consider expanding your community outreach to ensure families enroll students in free/reduced-price meal programs by posting fliers and applications in job offices, WIC clinics, public libraries, and food pantries.
- When identifying students with limited English proficiency (LEP) for meal program eligibility, FNS recommends schools work with local organizations (e.g., migrant or refugee assistance agencies) to determine which translations are needed; conduct a home language survey during school enrollment; and share USDA’s “I Speak” document with students’ families during school conferences to determine the language they feel comfortable speaking.
- Using a central database to store language information may reduce administrative burden for school food service staff and help streamline communications (e.g., meal payment reminders) for LEP families.
- Offering online payment, pre-payment, automatic payment, and repayment plans and systems, or other flexible options, can help reduce unpaid meal charges. Remember to notify families about all acceptable payment methods and systems to ensure they know how to pay for their student’s meals.
- Consider providing incentives for families opting to pre-pay for meals, such as prize drawings and discounts (so long as they meet paid lunch equity requirements).
- Remind families of low account balances on their child’s meal account to prevent unpaid meal charges. Communicate in a variety of ways to ensure the message reaches all families.
- Include general written reminders in school newsletters, lunch menus, and student “take-home folders.”
- Call families by telephone to remind them to refill their child’s meal account balance, or use robo-calls to do so.
- Send automated alerts for families using online payment systems to notify them when the balance reaches a low level. If authorization is granted, send automated messages via phone texts as well.
- Include unpaid meal charge notices with other payment reminders; schools can include all outstanding payments (e.g., fees for books, supplies, uniforms, etc.) when notifying families to streamline communications.
For more best practices for addressing unpaid meal charges, check out the full USDA guidance.