New policy hopes to address school lunch debt in Wilson County
Wilson County schools already has nearly $10,000 of school meal debt for this school year.
MOUNT JULIET, Tenn. (WSMV) - A new policy in Wilson County Schools will limit the amount of money a student can charge on their lunch account.
Students at Green Hill High School reportedly were accumulating school lunch debt quickly.
“Over the past few years, it’s kind of snowballed,” said Kevin Dawson, the principal of Green Hill High School.
Middle and high schools in Wilson County have already racked up nearly $10,000 in debt from school lunches in 2024. The school district hopes that this new policy that passed Monday night will help them get a handle on that number.
Students will now only be able to charge up to $30 for lunch. Before, there wasn’t a limit.
“Not having that limit really created some unforeseen circumstances like students whose parents didn’t want them generating hefty charges,” Dawson said.
If families didn’t pay their meal debts at the end of the year, schools could use their school lunch account to pay the debt.
This has not been an issue that is unique to Wilson County. The State of Tennessee has $51 million in school meal lunch debt, according to educationdata.org.
The Tennessee Justice Center (TJC) said they monitor the issue closely.
”Schools shouldn’t have to deal with school meal debt. Schools should focus on what we think schools are for educating kids and taking care of kids. They shouldn’t have to hunt down families for debt,” said Signe Anderson with the TJC.
The TJC is advocating for legislation that would provide all schools with free breakfast and lunch.
People who oppose the legislation cite that it comes with a hefty price tag for the state if it were passed. The TJC estimates the legislation would cost somewhere between $175 to $272 million.
The current proposed legislation has bipartisan support and would allow the federal government to pay for some of it and the state would pay for the rest.
While the center pushes for that, Wilson County emphasized their new policy will not leave a child without food, if they hit that $30 cap.
”A food pantry here at the school and that’s where we’ll serve our students,” Dawson said.
The policy also doesn’t impact students who already get free or reduced lunch.
School leaders also emphasized they noticed most of their debt wasn’t coming from students who couldn’t afford meals but from students who were charging just because they could.
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