Concord’s school district surpassed $100,000 in unpaid lunch debt for the first time, continuing a trend of growth that began when a pandemic-era freeze on school meal charges ended in 2022.

The rising debt from the last school year – which the school district must account for – prompted Concord’s Board of Education on Wednesday to call for prioritizing a fix to a growing issue for school districts across the region over the past three years.

“This is not a problem that’s going to stop even with parental education,” said board member Sarah Robinson. “We’ve got to figure out something different. This is an untenable growth situation on lunch debt.”

The year-end debt for the 2024-25 school year was $104,689.16, an increase of 13% from $93,000 last year. It was a smaller year-over-year increase than Concord experienced last year, when the debt jumped from $62,000 in 2022-23.

Prior to the pandemic, the district typically dealt with a year-end debt of between $7,000 and $15,000 per year, according to business administrator Jack Dunn.

Administrators and school board members in area school districts have said they believe parents grew accustomed to not paying for school meals during the pandemic when registration was suspended and have been slow to return to the practice, which can be technologically frustrating.

“This is really an accessibility issue and also just an unwillingness of folks to do things that are complicated or uncomfortable,” Robinson said.

School leaders have limited means to recoup unpaid bills. Most meal payment policies call on administrators to follow an escalating set of notification procedures, but the policies generally require schools to continue offering students a basic meal even when their lunch balance is negative.

Some policies allow districts to ultimately sue families in small claims court, but the Goffstown School District’s decision to do so last fall generated significant blowback. A review of court records did not turn up any other area school districts that had resorted to taking families to court.

Even though Concord has to cover the unpaid debt at the end of the fiscal year, Dunn said the district will continue its collection efforts this summer and into next school year.

Nearly all of Concord’s meal debt this year – 92% – was generated by students who are not enrolled in the federal free and reduced lunch program, which is available to families who earn up to 185% of federal poverty guidelines, which equates to an income of $57,720 for a family of four.

Concord school board members said one area for improvement could be the payment processing platform that the district uses, which is called LINQ Connect. The system charges a 3.95% fee, according to Dunn.

“The cost of paying by credit card is way higher than so many people can afford,” said board member Jim Richards. 

But board members said the alternatives to paying online – delivering a check or cash in person – were logistically infeasible for many families.

Dunn said the district has changed payment platforms three times in the past eight years.

“I am amazed on the education side how there is not a perfect solution,” he said.

 The board asked administrators to work toward a better system this summer.

 

Previous reporting from Catherine McLaughlin was used in this story. Jeremy Margolis can be contacted at jmargolis@cmonitor.com.