Here is some data collected from the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Charge Policy Brochure

The guidance states that “Charge policies should be reasonable, well defined and maintain the integrity and dignity of students and households to minimize harm to the student”, I don’t believe that a one-day grace period meets that “reasonable” criteria. The FINANCIAL IMPACT section reveals that school districts must absorb the cost of any unpaid school nutrition accounts, so I understand the pressure that schools are likely under. The BEST PRACTICES section clearly states that school policies should not punish the students, I believe that the practice of taking meal trays from students IS in fact punishment, at least it was for that 4 year-old! The Repayment section under BEST PRACTICES seems to follow several recommendations that have been posted on this website; they recommend that individual schools and school organizations set up funds to prevent students without money from being denied meals. Sid Miller is the Texas Agriculture Commissioner and I will send him a letter expressing my concerns and of course I will include a copy of this petition; I still say that the students need to continue to be fed while schools figure out how to recoup any unpaid funds, simply treat delinquent accounts as one would any other unpaid bill. Have a great weekend and thanks for supporting this petition! ——————————————————————————— GRACE PERIOD Beginning in School Year 2015-2016, if a public school or school district allows students to use prepaid meal cards or accounts to purchase school meals, the district must establish a policy that defines a grace period during which a student is able o charge meals after prepaid funds are exhausted. NOTIFICATION The public school or school district must notify the student’s parent or guardian that the student’s meal card or account balance is exhausted. The public school or school district may include a schedule for repayment in the notification, but must not charge interest on any unpaid balances. FINANCIAL IMPACT Public schools and school districts are required to cover charges incurred by the student if the parent or guardian does not pay the charges and federal child nutrition program funds cannot be used for these payments. However, the cost of the meal is an allowable cost if the meal is reimbursable. At the end of each fiscal year, the school must transfer an amount of non-federal funds to the child nutrition account that is equivalent to the debt accumulated by students who have unsettled charges for meals received. BEST PRACTICES Charge Policy Schools should establish evenhanded policies that best meet the needs of the parents or guardians as well as the financial needs of the school. Schools should ensure policies adequately encourage payment and do not punish students. Schools should use a variety of outreach strategies to communicate charge policies to parents or guardians. Schools should use a variety of outreach strategies to communicate charge policies to parents or guardians. Repayment School organizations may establish a fund to pay for children who forget or lose their money. The above data collected from http://squaremeals.org/Portals/8/files/NSLP/Charge%20Policy%20Rack%20Card_3.pdf