Debt battle: Fort Bragg military families have thousands in unpaid school lunches
FORT BRAGG — Fort Bragg families owe about $33,000 in student meal debt to the school district, post officials were told during a monthly meeting Wednesday.
The figure came from Fort Bragg schools Superintendent Kathryn Downs.
“We are reaching out to those families individually, phone call, email, every way we can,” Downs said.
Downs has said that no child is ever turned away from lunch and that district officials contact a parent or guardian when a child has debt on their lunch account.
She did not indicate how many students or families have unpaid lunches.
More than 3,500 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade attend classes on post, while high schoolers attend Cumberland County and Harnett County schools.
The last resort for resolving an unpaid account is going through the Defense Finance and Accounting Service to have the money taken out of a soldier’s paycheck, Downs has previously said.
“We are not yet ready to engage with command, and we are not ready to even think about garnishment," Downs said Wednesday.
More: Fort Bragg gets schooled on $85K lunch debt at installation
More: Fort Bragg families have thousands in school lunch debt
Other districts
Fort Bragg Schools, which falls under the Department of Defense Education Activity, is not the only local district that’s had lunch debt.
EducationNC reported last month that North Carolina districts had more than $3.1 million in lunch debt combined as of January.
The report found that in January, Cumberland County Schools had $6,000 in unpaid lunch fees, while Harnett County Schools had $9,700 and there was more than $36,300 in debt in Moore County Schools.
Food insecurity
According to the Fort Bragg and the Cumberland County Food Policy Council, "food insecurity data among military families is severely limited,” but a 2015 Government Accountability Office report indicated that 45% of children in all Department of Defense schools are eligible for free or reduced-price meals.
More: $100K grant aims to help increase access to healthy foods in Cumberland County, Fort Bragg
In 2018, 75% of Cumberland County Schools students were eligible for the free and reduced lunch program, according to the Food Policy Council.
The Department of Defense reported in July “a random sample” of more than 1.3 million active-duty service members conducted from October 2020 to January 2021 found that 24% reported experiencing food insecurity.
Fort Bragg is the most populated military installation, with more than 51,400 service members.
Payments and plans
At Fort Bragg, the Army Emergency Relief fund, unit ministry teams that fall under the Religious Support Office and the Armed Services YMCA’s food pantry provide food assistance for qualifying families.
More: New food pantry opens at Fort Bragg
As for the lunch debt, Downs said Fort Bragg schools officials want to work with families.
“We can work with you and work out a payment plan so that it’s something that is manageable,” she said Wednesday.
Parents and guardians can visit school websites to put money into a lunch account.
Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fort Bragg families have $33K in school lunch debt
