Parents Owe Concord School District $62K For Lunches, Breakfasts

CONCORD, NH — Parents and guardians of Concord School District students owe SAU 8 nearly $62,000 in unpaid food service bills.

The figure — as well as other shocking data about food services for the 2022-2023 school year, including a collapse in the number of meals served compared to when the food was free, as well as a possible fee increase next year, were analyzed by the board of education’s finance subcommittee Monday.

Jack Dunn, the business administrator for the district, said when the district closes out its books at the end of the fiscal year, a decision will need to be made on how to fill a food services budget that is off by $681,000. Billing had not been done for May and June, Dunn said, and some of the budget, too, can be offset by money budgeted from pandemic subsidies.

One major line item is the $61,636.39 hole in unpaid student food bills. Student debt in the food services budget was “up significantly” compared to prior years, Dunn said. Last year, lunch was subsidized due to the pandemic.

“This is the biggest I’ve seen it since I’ve been here,” Dunn said.

Nearly a third of the money, more than $18,000, was unpaid meals at the Rundlett Middle School. Eighty-five percent of those unpaid meals were from families not qualifying for free or reduced lunches or breakfasts. Concord High School parents and guardians had the lowest unpaid bills — a little less than $2,000, with reduced-benefit parents only owing $71.40. The elementary schools ranged in unpaid bills from $7,200 to $9,500 for each school.

Dunn said the district could take parents to small claims court to recover the money.

“It’s the only recourse we could do that we have not done,” he said.

It could also be rolled over into next year's accounts for those returning students.

Pamela Walsh, an at-large school board member who leads the subcommittee, questioned why there was nearly $3,700 in debt from students with free and reduced lunches. Dunn said one example was food “add-ons” — like a student taking extra milk. Only one is paid for by the state and federal government, even though the student may have taken two.

Meal counts from the 2021-2022 to 2022-2023 school year nosedived by more than 92,000 fewer breakfasts and nearly 146,000 fewer lunches. More than 489,000 lunches were served in the 2021-2022 school year, while 196,000 breakfasts were served that year.

Compared to the last full non-pandemic year (2018-2019), meals were down about 10 percent — not a huge amount when considering declining enrollment and other issues. Dunn did not have the exact numbers available on Tuesday for the 2018-2019 year when requested.

Dunn said the district would be making a pitch to increase lunch meals by 25 cents. Meal prices have not increased in elementary and middle school in six years; the high school meals increased three years ago. If approved, lunches would be $3.50 at the high school, $2.75 at the middle school, and $2.50 at the elementary schools. Dunn said he expected the price increase would reduce the number of lunches served. He said free and reduced lunch subsidies could not bail out the paid lunch fees. The alternative would be not to raise the price and have the district cover the costs.

The district also provides meals to St. John Regional School, which reimburses SAU 8.

Back in January 2020, several concerned residents became involved to try and find a way to cover school lunch money owed by families in need. At that time, the student food debt was a fraction of what it is for this year.

Across about seven months, residents and the district went back and forth on what to do. One community resident, Robert Fleischman, offered to donate money to the district to cover the debt if a sustainable assistance system could be set up. Later, in July 2020, all of the accounts were zeroed out due to his family’s donation of $15,000, and a website was also set up to take donations — ConcordSchoolsFeedFamilies.org, which appears to be dormant.

Jim Richards, the president of the board, who attended the meeting, asked whether there were set meals or it was ala carte. He also wanted to ensure students were receiving nutritious meals while not wanting to take away meals from any student.

Dunn said food services ensures making things reimbursable so it can be tracked. He did not know whether the district could charge interest on the debt because it was so regulated.

Walsh said one of the problems she had with the program was the $2.60 fee charged to parents every time they deposited funds onto a food card. She said many families paid in small amounts, not large amounts, and, therefore, pay more in fees than more affluent families that paid more significant amounts of money at once.

“We are charging a lot in fees,” she said, “and that bothers me.”

Dunn suggested the district could consider paying the credit card fees for all students. He said fees for extraction from checking accounts rather than credit cards were slightly cheaper. The schools also take cash from students, Dunn said, when asked how families were served if they did not have credit cards or checking accounts.

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