Meal Charging and Bad Debt Policy

The purpose of having a meal charging policy is to establish consistent clear meal account procedures throughout the district. There is a fine line between considering the fiscal integrity of the district and the solvency of the food service program while also meeting the nutritional needs of students.

Goals

To ensure that students have a healthy meal and that no child goes hungry.
To treat all students with dignity and confidentiality in the serving line.
To foster clear positive communication among staff, administrators, teachers, students and parent/guardian.
To establish fair practices that can be used consistently throughout the district regarding meal charges and the collection of charges.
To encourage parent/guardian to assume the responsibility of meal payments and to promote self-responsibility of their child/student.

Scope of Responsibility

The Food Service Department

Responsible for maintaining meal account records.
Responsible for notifying the student’s parent/guardian with phone calls, emails or written documentation after credit limit has been reached.
Responsible for working with households toward a reasonable resolution.

The Parent/Guardian

Responsible for immediate payment.

Meal Accounts

We strongly discourage meal charges, but understand that it occasionally happens. Meal charges are a temporary solution and are not intended to address broader issues of a parent/guardian’s inability to pay for a meal for his/her child. In those instances, an Education and Nutrition Benefits application should be completed. Education and Nutrition Benefit’s application are available through Skyward Family Access.

Parents/Guardians are encouraged to make meal payments in advance. Personal checks and cash deposits are accepted at the student’s home school. For convenience, deposits may also be made by credit/debit card after setting up an account for the student on Skyward Family Access, which is used as a computerized meal credit system to account for student meals and ala carte sales. All students have personal accounts regardless of paying status (free, reduced or full pay). Similar to a bank account, each student has a school ID number which stays with them for their duration in Walled Lake Consolidated Schools.

When using the Family Access/e-funds system, parents/guardians can access cafeteria purchases and account balances at anytime. Cafeteria cashiers will verbally notify students at the register when their meal account balance is low, specifically when it reaches the value of two equivalent meals or less. Emails, robo calls and text messages will be sent to parents/guardians when student account balances are low.

Meal Charging Policy

Although not required by law through the National School Lunch Act or the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act, limited meal charging will be allowed, as a courtesy to families, under the following conditions:

Elementary Students

Only reimbursable meals may be charged. No ala carte or milk purchases may be charged.
Students may charge any combination of meals (breakfast and lunch) up to a total of four meals.
When a student charges a meal, their meal account balance becomes a negative balance.
Students will be notified verbally at the register or via a written document when their balance is low, specifically the dollar value of two lunches or lower and/or when they are in arrears.
Repayment is expected for all charged meals and/or meal substitutes.
After the fourth occurrence, students will be provided with a light meal option for free (a cheese stick, a fruit and/or vegetable, a graham cracker packet and milk for lunch and a graham cracker packet, a fruit or vegetable and milk for breakfast).
No charging will be permitted 2 weeks prior to the end of the school year.
All unpaid charges will be added to the list of any outstanding fees or unpaid fines at the end of the school year. Payment must be made in full to the Food Service Department.

Middle School Students

Only reimbursable meals may be charged. No ala carte or milk purchases may be charged.
Students may charge any combination of meals (breakfast and lunch) up to two meals.
Students will be notified verbally at the register when their balance is low, specifically the dollar value of two lunches or lower and/or when they are in arrears.
When a student charges a meal, their meal account balance becomes a negative balance.
Repayment is expected for all charged meals and/or meal substitutes.
After the second occurrence, students will be provided with a light meal option for free (Two cheese sticks, a fruit and/or vegetable, a graham cracker packet and milk for lunch and graham cracker packet, a fruit or vegetable and milk for breakfast).
No charging will be permitted 2 weeks prior to the end of the school year.
All unpaid charges will be added to the list of any outstanding fees or unpaid fines at the end of the school year. Payment must be made in full to the Food Service Department.

High School Students

There is no charging permitted. If a student does not have money in hand or on their account, they will be provided with a light lunch for free (two cheese sticks, fruit and/or vegetables, a graham cracker packet and milk for lunch. A graham cracker packet, fruit and/or vegetables and milk for breakfast).
Students will be notified verbally at the register when their account balance is low, specifically the dollar value of two lunches or lower.
All unpaid charges will be added to the list of any outstanding fees or unpaid fines at the end of the school year. Payment must be made in full to the Food Service Department.

Positive Balances

Any unpaid meal charges or funds remaining in the student's meal account will be carried over to each consecutive school year. When a student leaves or graduates from the school district, they will be refunded balances in excess of $5.00. The district does not refund balances of $5.00 or less due to the administrative costs associated with creating a refund.

Uncollectable and Delinquent Debt

Uncollectable and delinquent debt are meal charges that have not been paid by the student or parent(s) during the school year. Any related collection costs and related legal costs arising due to the collection of those meal charges throughout that current year are an allowable cost in the nonprofit school food service account (NSFSA). The district expects all delinquent debts will be paid in full on the last day the student will be in attendance for the relevant school year. Before uncollectable and delinquent debt can be reclassified as bad debt, the Food Service Department must make reasonable efforts to collect on the debt and keep detailed records showing the efforts made, as follows:

Once a student’s meal account balance is $6.00, the Food Service Department will contact the household by email and/or by telephone to request payment. The Food Service Department will also inform the parent of the district’s reduced-price and full-price meal program.

Notification and Collection

Low Account Balances

The district will notify the student’s household, by email and/or, by telephone, when a student’s meal account balance is $6.00 and below. The notification will include the current account balance. The district may choose to use the following sample email and/or robo call:

Hello [parent/guardian]. This is [name]. I am the [position/title] at Walled Lake Consolidated Schools. I am calling to let you know that [student] has a low balance of $[X] in their school meal payment account. To ensure your child has enough money to purchase school meals, please add funds to their account as soon as possible. You may do so by going to Skyward Family Access and using a debit or credit card. If you have any questions, please call us at (248) 956-3080. Thank you.

District personnel shall keep records of all such phone calls or emails sent which will include the date and time of the phone call or email, and the telephone number or email address used.

Negative Account Balances

Students eligible for reduced-price or full-price meal who have money to pay for a meal at the time of service shall be provided a reimbursable meal, even if they have incurred a negative account balance. The district will not use funds students have in-hand to repay a negative balance or other unpaid meal charge debts.

Bad Debt Policy

Bad Debt is uncollectable/delinquent debt that has been determined to be uncollectable by the end of the school year in which the debt was incurred. If the uncollectable/delinquent debt cannot be recovered by the School Meals Program in the year when the debt was incurred, then this is classified as bad debt. Once classified as bad debt, non-Federal funding sources must reimburse the NSFSA for the total amount of the bad debt. The funds may come from the district general fund, state or local funding, school or community organizations such as the PTA, or any other non-federal source. Once the uncollectable/delinquent debt charges are converted to bad debt, records relating to those charges must be maintained in accordance with the record retention requirements in 7 CFR §210.9(b) (17) and 7 CFR §210.15(b).

Under the Office of Management & Budget Uniform Guidance for Grants, per 2 CFR §200.426, bad debt (debts which have been determined to be uncollectable), including losses (whether actual or estimated) arising from uncollectable accounts and other claims, are unallowable. Related collection costs, and related legal costs, arising from such debts after they have been determined to be uncollectable are also unallowable.

Bad Debt that is uncollectable/delinquent will not be collected by the Food Service Department in the collection efforts and will be zeroed out accordingly for each respective student in the district’s Point of Sale system to accurately reflect the year end closing adjustments to the NSFSA. Any Bad Debt will be collected by the finance department at the District level. If a student or parent(s) incurs a large debt, then later applies for free lunch and is approved, meals cannot be withheld from free eligible students as a means of collecting bad debt. Any unpaid bad debts will carry over to the following school year by the general fund account. Once the bad debt is paid, the monies will be returned to general fund or non-Federal sources.

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