The Trib-Star has an article on the subject of what schools should do about feeding kids whose parents don’t pay the bill for school lunches. The article specifically deals with Vigo County, but it’s an issue that comes up everywhere. On the one hand, none of this is the kids’ fault. On the other hand, there is fear of creating a free rider problem by parents who can pay but choose not to. One solution that makes a lot of people angry is the “cheese sandwich of shame” — an “alternate lunch” that feeds the kid but theoretically creates some pressure to do something about the outstanding bill.
I’m a softy, but I’m inclined to err on the side of feeding the kid and not creating an environment where they feel ashamed of not being rich enough to get the hamburger or whatever the standard lunch is. If I’m getting swindled out of my tax dollars and the result is that those dollars are going to feeding kids, I’m really o.k. with that. If the parents are really taking the school district for a ride, go after them with standard collections procedures. The argument is that collecting the money is more expensive than getting it up front. And, there is some truth to that. But, if the parents really have a lot of extra cash, it shouldn’t be too tough to collect — and, there are ways to impose additional fees for collection costs and attorney’s fees to sort of offset the costs of collection. If the parents don’t have much extra cash, maybe it’s o.k. to help out a little by giving their kids a free lunch.
Are there really super rich families taking advantage of this? Charge the 14,000 families in the district $20 at the beginning of the year and feed them all without the administrative costs of collecting and tracking who pays and who doesn’t pay. Let the kids eat without shame. Jeez.
I agree with you, Jeff. I think it is highly unlikely that people who are truly comfortable are going to take advantage of a meal program at school.
I’m not aware of the situation in Vigo County, but I do think a lot of the problem people seem to have around school lunches, subsidized meals, etc., comes from the concept of deserving and undeserving recipients of aid and the unproven premise that lots of people would commit fraud if aid were available. I also think that a lot of people, particularly people in the decision-making class, are just darn ignorant of the lives of those for whom they are making decisions.
Where I live, the decision makers are mostly older, well-off people whose adult children and grandchildren moved to more prosperous places long ago. They seem unaware that 8 to 12 dollars an hour is barely enough for a single person to live on, let alone a family with school-age children. They don’t see that families move from house to house as rents change; bunk up with friends and relatives to stay off the streets; go to food pantries so they can make it through the week or the month. There are more than 40 food pantries in my county. Some people here are starting to get it, but there are still many who are shamefully ignorant of what is going on in their own communities.