NAZARETH, Pa. — Nazareth Area families might be off the hook for this year’s school lunch debt thanks to activists who hope to cover the cost.
Volunteers from the Pennsylvania Cancel Lunch Debt Coalition met with district administrators after Tuesday night’s school board meeting to talk about the potential donation and their work. They are parents, teachers, students and community members who have been advocating for the cancellation of student lunch debt in Pennsylvania, and the implementation of universal free school meals since 2021.
The coalition offered to pay off Nazareth Area School District’s final 2023-24 lunch debt total – it has already surpassed $5,500 – as long as its donation is only used for that purpose, and families are told they no longer owe anything. The funds for the donation would come from the Rolling Jubilee Fund, an initiative of The Debt Collective, a coalition partner.
The offer has to be brought before the Nazareth Area School Board for formal consideration.
The coalition also wants the school board to adopt a resolution stating directors agree student meal debt across the state should be canceled and universal free meals should be available at school. However, the adoption of such a resolution is not a requirement for the district to receive the coalition’s donation.
“We don’t think that kids should be in debt for needing to eat.”Elizabeth Lester-Abdalla, Pennsylvania Cancel Lunch Debt Coalition
As of May 10, Nazareth Area students owed $5,586.69 in lunch debt, according to a school district Right-to-Know response the coalition shared with LehighValleyNews.com. Of the district’s more than 4,900 students, 274 owed meal debt.
“Relatively speaking, Nazareth is a fairly affluent school district, and we wanted to bring attention that this affects kids in every district across the commonwealth,” said Elizabeth Lester-Abdalla, a coalition member from Morrisville in Bucks County.
Nazareth would be the first
After coalition members brought attention to student meal debt in Bristol Borough School District in 2022, the Bucks County district decided to cancel its debt. But coalition members believe it’s ultimately on legislators, not school districts, to cancel debt.
They hope their donation in Nazareth brings attention to the issue statewide – in Pennsylvania school meal debt totaled nearly $79 million as of January, according to the Education Data Initiative.
This donation would be the first the Pennsylvania Cancel Lunch Debt Coalition makes to a school district in the state.
Nazareth Area Superintendent Richard Kaskey said high-performing districts like his throughout Pennsylvania still have families who struggle financially, even if those hardships may not be in plain sight.
“We have to educate and we have to provide for all our students,” he added. “Even though we’re looked upon as a fortunate district that provides a great education, we realize that some people struggle from paycheck to paycheck, and we have to be cognizant of that and supportive of those families.”
Stuart Whiteleather, NASD’s business administrator and board secretary, said about 23% of Nazareth Area’s student population qualifies for free or reduced meals based on family income levels; however, that doesn’t mean all families take advantage of the National School Lunch Program.
Income requirements
For the 2023-24 school year, a Pennsylvania family of four had to earn an annual income of $55,500 or less in order to qualify. This year, students who would normally qualify for reduced lunch were able to receive a free lunch anyway — a practice that will continue next year.
Lester-Abdalla said the national income requirements are insufficient and leave out many families who are still struggling to make ends meet, but who earn too much according to the thresholds.
“We don’t think that kids should be in debt for needing to eat,” she added. “We know that hunger has a huge effect on your ability to learn and access your education."
Kaskey said research supports Lester-Abdalla’s point.
“If your belly’s not full, you’re going to struggle academically, and if your belly is full, your process of thinking increases," he said.
Lester-Abdalla also said the pandemic brought awareness to the topic of food insecurity.
Government responses during the pandemic highlighted the ways legislative leaders can make sure students don’t go hungry at school and families aren’t saddled with meal debt, she added.
Universal free breakfast has continued since the pandemic, but lunch has not.
In a normal year, about 40% of Nazareth Area students buy lunch at school. When meals were free from 2020 to 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic, NASD saw student participation in its meals program rise to 63%.
Debt collection
When meals aren't free, some families can't afford their students' lunches, and it's up to districts to collect repayment down the line. And when districts aren't successful on their own or don't have the capacity to manage the collection, they sometimes hire outside help.
Debt collection agencies often purchase debt at a fraction of its value and then pursue full repayment from debtors to turn a profit, the coalition said. By purchasing meal debt outright, the coalition is seeking to absolve Nazareth Area families of all repayment obligations.
This is the first school year Nazareth Area has worked with a debt collection agency – Berkheimer – to settle lunch debt, Whiteleather said.
NASD first contacts families to collect funds or set up a payment plan. If the district is unsuccessful, then Berkheimer takes over to attempt to collect the debt in a “reasonable fashion.”
“We never initiate aggressive collection efforts,” Whiteleather said.
Legislative support?
The coalition is not trying to shame any district, members said. Activists are instead looking to gain legislative support.
They chose to donate to Nazareth in part because the debt amount was relatively small, and because Nazareth Area falls in state Sen. Lisa Boscola’s district.
Boscola, D-Northampton/Lehigh, was the only Democrat in the Senate who didn’t co-sponsor a bill that sought to both create a universal school meal program and cancel existing meal debt. Activists said her support is essential to passing such legislation, whether it originates in the House or the Senate.
“My dad taught me long ago that there is no such thing as a free lunch, someone else pays for it."State Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Northampton/Lehigh
Activists also pointed to the meal debt struggles in nearby Bethlehem Area School District, which Boscola represents. Last year, Bethlehem Area students had more than $210,600 in meal debt as of May 2023, according to a Right-to-Know response the coalition received at the time.
“I would say [it’s] absurd to think you’re not going to co-sponsor something to say that we should just, as a state, cancel this [debt], we should make sure that this doesn’t exist moving forward,” said Nick Marcil, another coalition member from Chester County.
But Boscola is not on board.
In a statement she said: “My dad taught me long ago that there is no such thing as a free lunch, someone else pays for it. Whether it is a senior citizen living on a fixed income or hardworking middle-class family, the tax dollars used to cover those meals comes from someone.
"Using taxpayer money, whether it is state dollars or local property taxes to cover lunches for families that can afford it, does not make sense. We need to continue to help those families that need the help.”
