Kim Cullipher became the school nutrition director for Perquimans County Schools one week before the COVID-19 pandemic closed schools in March 2020. Back then, the nutrition department faced challenges due to a large amount of unpaid school meal debt — charges that accrue when a student is unable to pay for their meal.

“It was just an astronomical amount of money,” said Cullipher. “We would either have to write it off or the local government would have to step in. We did have some local donations that would assist, but it was never enough to cover the multitude that we had.”

A survey by the School Nutrition Association found that 75% of school districts nationwide had unpaid student meal debt at the end of the 2017-18 school year and the median amount of unpaid meal debt per district rose by 70% since the 2012-13 school year.

Then the pandemic hit, and a series of waivers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) granted school nutrition departments flexibilities normally not available. This included being able to serve meals under the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), which provides higher per-meal reimbursements and allows free meals to be served to all children ages 18 and under. In Perquimans County, Cullipher’s department pivoted quickly, offering meals to students via school bus delivery and curbside pickup.

Since then, Perquimans County Schools has continued to serve free meals to all students under ongoing waivers from the USDA, as have 90% of school districts nationwide. But without Congressional action, these waivers will expire on June 30, 2022, marking the end of a more than two-year period where school meals were provided at no cost to students across the country.

In a recent email to Lynn Harvey, director of school nutrition and district operations for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, Cullipher shared what the discontinuation of universal free school meals would mean for her district.

“Perquimans County is a small, rural county and the largest employer in the county is the school system. There is not a lot of wealth in our county, but a lot of families that are just barely getting by. Our county is built off of farm families and working class families living paycheck to paycheck and they oftentimes just miss qualifying for free or reduced meals by dollars, and I mean times such as $4,” she wrote.

“Universal meals have been AMAZING! The outpouring of appreciation and love for this from the community has been overwhelming and eye opening. To take this away, especially during a time when the economy is as it is right now, would be devastating.”

According to Cullipher, the expiration of universal school meals would wreak havoc on school nutrition department finances. At the same time that costs are rising, revenues would fall. Sources of increased costs include inflation, higher labor costs, and having to meet stricter meal pattern requirements. Under North Carolina’s budget, the minimum wage for all non-certified school employees, which includes cafeteria workers, will increase to $15 on July 1, 2022.

The waivers expiring would also remove flexibilities when it comes to meeting meal pattern requirements. Right now, if a product isn’t available due to supply chain disruptions, Cullipher has more flexibility to substitute alternative items than she would without these waivers. A March survey from the USDA found that 92% of school food authorities reported experiencing challenges due to supply chain disruptions, such as limited product availability and orders arriving with missing or substituted items.

“There’s been a number of times where we can’t get simple things like trays and forks and cups,” Cullipher said.

Read the full article about universal school meals by Analisa Sorrells at The 74.