Man raises money to wipe out more than $20,000 in school lunch debt

    DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) -- Metro area school districts are reporting thousands owed in lunch account balances as the first day of school approaches, spurring efforts to pay down balances before the start of school.

Since the pandemic, child nutrition expert Kaitlyn Scheuermann said school districts' debt had increased significantly.

"Coming out of the pandemic, a lot of families were struggling financially in a lot of different ways. When they are looking at what bills to pay, they're going to pay rent and utilities first, and school lunch might not make the cut in a particular month," Scheuermann said. "So (for school districts) that's a really scary thing to see debt rise so dramatically in such a short period of time."

In Newton, the school board was weighing options to handle a lunch debt of more than $21,000. Cardinal alumnus Rick Vernon learned about the debt and launched a community donation challenge, vowing to match what was given. The district said the debt was paid in less than a week.

Now Vernon is challenging other communities to do the same.

"There's somebody that has means in every community like I do in Newton," Vernon said. "People can step up in every community in Iowa where they have deficits like this."

Scheuermann said the effort to pay lunch debt is helpful to alleviate families facing debt, but she would prefer a larger solution to prevent it from accruing.

"To raise funds to pay off debt is a great thing in the short term, but it's kind of a band-aid solution," Scheuermann said. "It doesn't really address the root causes of the problem, it doesn't provide a long-term solution. ... I think turning to policy and looking at what opportunities lie at greater, bigger levels, can really help provide those opportunities for students to be fed day in and day out."