Congress did not renew a program that covered the cost of school meals for all students during the pandemic. The termination of that federal program is delivering a burden to Utah families.
“We will never deny a student a lunch,” said Matthew Sampson, spokesperson for the Granite School District. “They will receive the same lunch every other student receives.”While no student is ever denied a meal, lunch debt can follow a student throughout their school careers. “I think the majority is economically struggling,” said Candace Parr, the child nutrition supervisor for the Weber School District. “Some parents are out of the habit, but the majority of it is they are struggling to make ends meet.”
Crawford reports the district is seeing a 5% increase in students eating meals at school. It’s unclear if the program will continue into the fall of 2023. Funding is the biggest hurdle.
fox13 Hey, and fox13 - the link to donate to pay off school lunch debt in the article is broken/doesn’t work. Please drop that link here 🙏🏽