Thousands of students in the state of North Carolina, USA, are having difficulty paying for school lunches.
For the past few years, schools in the US were able to offer free lunches to all students, but this policy expired in September 2022.
Many schools have reverted to charging some students for lunch and only offering free or low-cost lunches to students from the “family needy” category.
Students who do not qualify for free meals will have to spend more than $100 on school meals each month.
The fact that some US states including North Carolina ended the free school lunch program caused stress for students and parents. The state’s free meal program is gone and families now have to pay for their children’s school lunch if their child is not eligible for the free meal.
Diana Pratt-Heavner, a spokeswoman for the American Association of School Nutrition, said many families are currently having difficulty paying for their children’s lunches.
“The situation got worse after the Covid-19 pandemic,” says Pratt-Heavner. Nationally, student lunch debt has reached more than $19 million. In North Carolina, the figure is 1.3. million dollars.
Many families are going through a medical crisis, rent is rising and they are struggling to make ends meet. They may not be eligible for the meal allowance, but they are still people with a difficult life.”
Students in the US during lunch time (Photo: Boulder Valley School District).
Many families in the US have to choose between paying for their children’s school lunch or paying the family’s utility bill.
Schools are also having trouble convincing some families to fill out applications for free meals. In some cases, families worry they will be discriminated against.
“There are students who choose not to eat lunch if they feel embarrassed about getting free food at school,” Ms. Pratt-Heavner said.
Children don’t want to be criticized for being eligible for free meals, says Pratt-Heavner, when their classmates are no longer up to the standard.
“There have been studies that show that school lunches are the healthiest meal many American children eat. We want to make sure that every student has equal access to healthy school meals. to promote student success,” said Ms. Pratt-Heavner.
The American Association of School Nutrition is calling on Congress to provide free meals for all students.
“We’re very concerned that, by the end of the year, many schools will have to pay a significant debt for unpaid meals and that could lead to cuts in their education funds,” Pratt-Heavner said. schools”.
The American Association of School Nutrition reports that schools are also facing more challenges when it comes to providing school lunches.
Their survey found that the top three challenges were rising food costs, a lack of staff, and a lack of menu variety. Almost every school they surveyed reported facing rising costs for a school nutrition program.
The survey found that 43% of school districts with fewer than 1,000 students reported staff shortages. Meanwhile, 79% of school districts with at least 25,000 students reported staff shortages.