Running Out of Lunch Money
(ABC 6 NEWS) - One Iowa school is nearly $57,000 behind on lunch money owed by students. Des Moines school officials say higher food prices and the slumping economy are making it hard for students to pay.
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Posted at: 11/19/2008 09:38:37 PMUpdated at: 11/20/2008 08:01:55 AM
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Running Out of Lunch Money
(ABC 6 NEWS) -- One Iowa school is nearly $57,000 behind on lunch money owed by students.
Des Moines school officials say higher food prices and the slumping economy are making it hard for students to pay.
When school started this fall, the district was down nearly $57,000 in unpaid lunches.
That’s up 50% from last year.
School officials say students won't go hungry but the increasing costs will force changes in how lunchroom credit is handled.
Major districts we talked to in the area say they handle their lunch payments differently than in Des Moines.
Rochester, Albert Lea, and Austin all say students pre-pay for lunches and are able to fall three lunches behind on payments while the school works with the parents.
In the Austin School District, about 48% of students qualify for either free or reduced lunches, and most are in the program.
"There’s just maybe fewer people making a living that allows them to provide everything they need to,” says Food Service Coordinator Mary Weikum.
Weikum says the number of kids in the district qualifying for the program is 10% to 15% higher than it was just eight years ago as people lose their jobs or higher inflation out-works wages.
And most students in the program really need that extra help.
Nearly all of their families make a low enough income to qualify for lunches free.
And Austin isn't the only district seeing the trend.
In Albert Lea 42% of kids qualify.
But in Rochester, only 27% qualify.
Both of those districts say the numbers haven't gone up as dramatically as Austin.
"One thing I'll say is we've noticed an increase in larger size families and that makes a difference too,” says Weikum.
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