Almost 20,000 school lunches. That's how many went unpaid for during the 2018 to 2019 school year on the First Coast. For many of the school districts, it's exemplary of a larger problem of food insecurity.
The combined total of school lunch debt accumulated on the First Coast for the 2018 to 2019 school year is $43,805, with the highest amount of lunch debt belonging to Clay County Schools at $32,259.
For Clay, that's roughly 14,337 regularly priced school lunches. Nassau County comes in second with $7,257 in outstanding debt and then followed by St. Johns County Schools at $4,289.
Many schools tell First Coast News that bad debt for their district must be written off as an operating loss and ultimately restored using non-Federal funds.
"Unfortunately the debt continues to accumulate and our cafeteria managers and office staff work tirelessly to try and call and send home letters and information about free and reduced-price meal applications to the home," said Lauren L. Jones, Director of Food and Nutrition Services in Nassau County. "Most of the time we do not get a response. Sometimes the principal or other school staff will pay off the debt."
No student on the First Coast - regardless of the district - will be denied a school meal because of a negative balance. However, the kinds of meals that the students with debt receive vary from county to county.
Duval County Schools implemented a No Lunch Money Procedure but still serves students a “substitute meal” if debt reaches a negative balance of $2.50. That meal consists of a cold salad with a serving of juice and bread.
In Clay County, "substitute meals" are side items and a sandwich. In Camden County, it's a slice of pizza and milk. Nassau County serves all students the same meal regardless of accumulated debt.
What about the other counties?
Many of the counties in our area such as Bradford, Putnam and Baker County schools qualify for the Community Eligibility Provision, which is a free meal service option for school districts in low-income areas. Schools that adopt CEP are reimbursed using a formula based on how many students participate in programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
But even with many of those schools having little-to-no school lunch debt, there's still a larger problem at play.
Feeding America, one of the largest nonprofit organizations in the United States, reported that the number of food-insecure children in Duval County in 2017 was 43,720.
The organization notes that only 69 percent of those children were eligible for federal nutrition assistance through programs while the other 13,553 food-insecure children were not.
Duval County isn't the only county experiencing issues of child food insecurity.
In 2017, Feeding America says that 3,120 children in Nassau County experienced food insecurity and over 8,000 in St. Johns; both staggering numbers that suggest change is needed.
We just have to be hungry enough for it.
For more resources on food insecurity in your community, click here.
ON YOUR SIDE:
Engine 15 and First Coast Brews are brewing up a beer that will help alleviate the debt that schools in our area have racked up as a result of students not being able to pay for their meals.
Proceeds from the beer and its release party on August 15 will be donated directly to counties in our area.