Oklahoma initiative seeks to pay off school lunch debt for districts in need

Erika Buzzard Wright said the realization that families in her own school district were struggling prompted her decision to help create a program to pay off school lunch debt.

And, while there aren’t yet any school districts in Oklahoma’s southwest region on that list, there could be.

Wright is founder of the Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition, which has partnered with Oklahomans for Public Education on a fundraising initiative to help families and school districts pay off student lunch debt. As of Wednesday, the organizations set their goal at $76,611, reflecting the total debt of school districts that have reached out for the initiative — meaning organizers expect that total to increase as more districts hear about the program.

“My groceries bill has gone up tremendously. So have the schools,” Wright said. “We’re just trying to raise awareness.”

That awareness centers on a need that many not think about: there is a cost for school lunches and some families are having trouble affording it. While families are having to make choices about the things they can afford, school districts are accumulating debt for students who need to eat but cannot afford the cost of lunch.

Wright, president of the Noble Public Schools Foundation in Cleveland County, said she faced that reality last year.

“Our district was faced with overwhelming debt,” she said about a tab incurred from providing meals to students who couldn’t pay, adding the foundation and community partnered on a fundraiser that took care of the debt. “The community got behind this.”

Fast forward to 2023, when she, Oklahomans for Public Education Founder Angela Clark Little and others began conversations about school districts facing the same problem. Their thought: ask people to consider postponing “just because” expenditures and donate that money to a school lunch debt initiative. Organizations put the word out, contacted school districts and posted in social media, trying to identify school districts that need help. School districts responded and the need continues to grow: what had been a fundraising goal of $74,156 last week had grown to $76,611 by Wednesday as more districts added their names.

While Wright expects that total to increase, she said it doesn’t reflect the total need because some communities are taking care of the situation themselves. She cited a manufacturing company in Duncan — who wants to remain anonymous — that paid the school lunch debt for Duncan Public Schools when they became aware of the initiative. That action is part of the initiative’s goal, Wright said, adding that she expects local organizations to step forward in some communities.

“School foundations are great resources,” she said.

Wright said the problem is statewide.

“Everyone has lower income families that are being impacted by this,” she said. “More families are struggling because of the cost of everything. We were already a state that is high-poverty anyway and when you throw all the economic factors in, there are much more people who never had to worry about it before.”

While the problem has always existed to some degree, it worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, Wright said, adding that while federal funding helped ease the problem by funding free lunches for every student, those funds are done now. That situation is made worse by rising costs on almost everything, an economic reality that is affecting even those who don’t meet the federal criteria for free or reduced-price meals.

“A bunch don’t qualify, but still are struggling to make ends meet,” she said of families that have less disposable income.

Districts also are having to retrain families to fill out free and reduced-price meal documentation, crucial if a district is to be reimbursed for the costs of those meals.

There is some light on the horizon. Wright said she and others have been told of bills that will be introduced in the Oklahoma Legislature’s 2024 session to make Oklahoma a free school meal state. That’s important, she said, adding there are consequences when children show up to school hungry.

“No learning takes place,” she said.