Unpaid Meal Balances

Meal Payments and Charging Procedures

Unless meals are offered at no cost, the District kindly asks that students and employees pay for their meals either in advance or at the time they are received. While the option to charge meals is available in some cases, it is considered a support service and may be limited based on the guidelines outlined below.

Student Guidelines

• Students will be charged for all reimbursable meals, even when their account is at a negative balance.
• A student who has accumulated unpaid charges for complete meals and is still unable to pay will not be denied a reimbursable meal.
• Students may not charge a la carte items.
• All money collected will be posted to the student’s meal account. A student with money in hand will not be denied a meal even if the student has past due charges.
  • A student with money in hand will be denied a la carte purchases if their account is at a negative balance. 
• The District will not use any form of shaming or publicly identify students with unpaid balances, nor will it unlawfully withhold student records.

Notifications

When a student accumulates three unpaid meal charges, the District will take the following steps to support the family and resolve the balance:

1. Application Reminder: Families will be encouraged to complete an application for Free and Reduced-Price Meals if one has not already been submitted.
2. Student Check-In: The school principal or designee will meet with the student to determine whether there are any hardships or needs that school staff can help address.
3. Family Outreach: The principal or designee will make multiple efforts to contact the family to discuss the situation, answer questions, and find a resolution.
4. Offer Assistance: Staff will offer help in completing the Free and Reduced-Price Meals application and connect families to additional resources, if applicable.

Note: If a student arrives at school without food regularly and there is reasonable cause to suspect neglect, District staff are legally required to report the concern to the Children’s Division of the Missouri Department of Social Services.

Partnering with Families

To help families manage and resolve meal account balances, the District will:

• Provide timely notifications when account balances are low
• Notify families promptly if unpaid charges are incurred
• Offer to work with families to create a manageable payment plan for outstanding balances

Collection of Unpaid Meal Charges

• A meal charge becomes delinquent 90 days after it is due, provided no payments have been made and no payment plan is in place.
• The District will continue reasonable efforts to collect delinquent charges as long as they are deemed collectible.
• If collection efforts are unsuccessful or too costly, the charges may be classified as bad debt and written off using local (nonfederal) funds.

Refer to Regulation EF-R for more details.