DENVER — Just over halfway through the school year, three metro-area school districts are owed a combined million dollars in unpaid student lunch debt, which anti-hunger advocates said shows the need for districts to opt-in to a state program to provide free meals to all students starting next year.
Denver Public Schools was owed $700,000 in unpaid meal debt, according to records obtained by 9NEWS last week. Jefferson County Schools reported $292,256 in debt and Douglas County Schools held $58,993 of unpaid lunch money.
"Sometimes it’s just a few dollars a family owes, and sometimes it adds up to quite a bit, and it can add up to be quite a bit for school districts, too," said Ashley Wheeland of Hunger Free Colorado, an anti-hunger advocacy group.
She said the unpaid lunch money is not likely students pocketing the allowance their parents provide -- districts do provide meals to kids even if they cannot pay -- but rather a broader issue of hunger, stigma and finances.
"They’re not paying their lunch money because their families are facing other issues or the child is facing an issue like being ashamed," she said. "Having any debts are stressful and having it with your school, where you send your child every day, is even more stressful.
District policies detail how administrators try to collect unpaid bills from families, often involving letters and phone calls. In Douglas County, the district can refer families to debt collectors, but the district said it has sent zero families to such agencies this year, nor does it have a debt collector company under contract.
"Over time, districts have just had to eat the costs themselves," Wheeland said.
Proposition FF, which voters passed last year and for which she helped advocate, should help, Wheeland said. If districts opt-in, state funding would pay for meals for all students who don't already qualify for free lunch.
"Every kid should have the option to do well in school, especially with having enough food to eat. And that’s something that we have addressed in Colorado starting next year," she said.
The money from the proposition won't help alleviate the debt districts will likely write-off this school year, but assuming districts opt in, she expects it will cut out future lunch debt.
Wheeland also said the free meals for all initiative will encourage more kids to eat lunch at school and help alleviate the rising food cost burden on their parents. As evidence, she pointed to an increase in students in the lunch line when the federal government paid for all meals during the height of the pandemic.
"We saw 20 percent more kids eating when school meals were available to all without the worry or the stigma and we expect it to go back to a similar situation with [Proposition] FF passing," she said.
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