$124K in unpaid school lunch debt prompts call for community help in Columbia
Mitchell Kaminski
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
With more than $124,000 in unpaid school meal debt currently in collections, former Columbia Board of Education candidate Ken Rice is calling on the community to help support families and find long-term solutions.
“There’s a little more than $124,000 in unpaid lunch bills that are in collections,” Rice said. “That means that families of students who don’t, who have a balance of a certain amount, are now in a collection turned over to a collection agency. And, you know, that is not something that the school board or anybody would like to have happen.”
Rice is encouraging people to donate to the Lunch for Learners fund, which is utilized to cover delinquent lunch accounts for families in need.
Although Rice was defeated in April’s school board election by Suzette Waters and Erica Dickson, he said he still wants to help the district.
“I didn’t make the election. I said I still want to be involved in the schools and want to be part of the solution,” he said.
Rice has taken to social media to raise awareness about student meal debt. He also pledged a $250 donation from himself and his wife.
The Lunch for Learners fund was created in 2010 by then-Superintendent Chris Belcher and Nutrition Services Director Laina Fullum. It was initially funded through contributions from the United Way, Columbia Public Schools Foundation, and other local organizations. The fund helps families who do not qualify for free or reduced-price meals but face short-term financial hardship.
According to CPS spokesperson Michelle Baumstark, the district serves all students hot meals regardless of lunch status. The cost of a meal is $3.10 for elementary and $3.30 for middle and high school.
Baumstark says one of the Board of Education’s legislative priorities this year is universal paid school lunch, something other states have already adopted, and that was in place during the pandemic.
Approximately 42% of students in Columbia Public Schools qualify for free or reduced-price meals. However, many families narrowly miss the threshold, creating difficult daily choices for necessities like food, gas, and utilities.
“The free and reduced lunch, you have to be below the poverty line to get to participate in that. Well, that’s a really low standard,” Rice said. “You know, if you’re just above the poverty line, you’re still not in a good situation and you’re having to make decisions every day to pay for gas, to pay for food, to, you know, just pay for your electric bill. A $20 delinquency on a lunch bill wouldn’t be much to me or my family. I could pay that off. But somebody else, that $20 could be the difference between getting gas so they can get to work every day.”
Rice said he plans to join the district’s wellness committee in an effort to find sustainable solutions that prevent this type of debt from accumulating year after year.
“I’m committed to finding a solution along with the school board, along with Dr. Klein and the administration. Let’s find an answer. So we don’t continue to have that bill every year going forward,” he said.
Nutrition Services is a self-funded department, meaning the revenue from meal sales is intended to sustain operations. When families cannot pay, debt accumulates, and the district is forced to absorb the cost or refer the balances to collections. As of this month, the unpaid meal debt stands at $124,613. However, that figure is still less than the $153,917 in unpaid meal debt from the 2023-24 school year.
According to a presentation shared at Thursday’s school board meeting, the district opted to use a debt collection service, citing the need to preserve relationships between families and school staff, enhance accountability and transparency, and ensure legal protection.
Without such a provider, Columbia Public Schools argues that growing unpaid meal debt could divert funds from education, strain staff resources, and undermine financial accountability and fairness.
“It’s a hard decision. It’s really hard to make that decision to do that. But nobody really wants to send a collection agency to someone’s house,” Rice said.
Rice emphasized that community support has the power to make a meaningful difference for struggling families.
“In Columbia, I’ve seen, you know, in so many ways, this community comes together and supports each other,” Rice said. “I urge you, if you’re hearing this to look at yourself, if you can help and then urge your neighbor, urge your friends, urge your family to help out and let’s get this debt taken care of and then, help me and help the school board and help this administration to solve the problem going into the future.”
The district encourages donations to the Lunch for Learners fund year-round. Information about the fund and how to donate can be found at cpsk12.org.
