A bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives that would prohibit school districts from using debt collectors to recover unpaid debts related to school lunches while also keeping districts from publicly shaming students with unpaid lunch debts.
The bill, H.R. 3366 — the No Shame at School Act — was introduced by Rep. Ilhan Omar [D-Minn.]. It includes 20 co-sponsors, all of them Democrats.
School districts across the country have been forced to deal with an increase in the amount of students who are not paying for their school lunches. Some districts have hired collection agencies to contact the parents of those students to try and recover the debts. While the total amounts might not seem like much — one district in Pennsylvania hired an agency to recover $40,000 in unpaid lunches — the money matters a great deal to the districts which are operating on razor-thin budgets.
Under the proposed legislation, districts would not be able to publicly identify students with unpaid lunch debts, such as by having them wear a wristband or by publishing lists of names of students with unpaid debts. While prohibiting districts from hiring collectors, the bill would allow districts to be reimbursed for students’ meals.
“The question of whether a child will eat should not be dependent on their family’s income. That’s not what our country stands for,” said Rep. Deb Haaland [D-N.M.] at a press conference to announce the proposed legislation.
The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor.
