School District Mulls Options Over Unpaid Lunch Debts

A school district in New Hampshire is mulling its options as it deals with $32,000 in unpaid school lunches. One possible option is to place any account with a balance of more than $20 with a collection agency, although some in the district are reluctant to take the step, calling it a “shake down.”

The district is not sure how much of the $32,000 is from individuals who can not afford to pay for their lunch and are not paying, compared with people who can afford to buy lunch and are not paying. A sense of pride may be keeping those from signing up for a free or reduced-fee lunch program.

While the amount of money to be recovered is not that high, this may represent an opportunity for a collection agency or someone from the ARM industry to educate this particular district about how the industry operates and that hiring a collection agency is not something to be viewed as a negative. There are people out there who know the district will not try to collect on the funds and are taking advantage of the system. It is because of those people that force school districts and companies to raise their prices to compensate for the unpaid bills, which forces all of us to pay more.