Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
MELANIE AVEHillsborough officials are seeking a collection agency to get parents to pay up for lunches charged to their kids.
TAMPA - Stuck with an unpaid tab of over $500,000, the Hillsborough school system plans to hire a collection agency to get deadbeat parents to pay for all the chicken nuggets and dinosaur potatoes their kids are consuming gratis.
"We work with people, but some just don't pay," said Hillsborough School Board chairman Glenn Barrington.
Administrators sought bids for the collection work last fall, but ultimately were not satisfied with the terms they were offered. School officials still hope to negotiate with a collection agency by the end of the school year, or at a minimum, improve their own methods for collecting on unpaid meals.
The idea to hire an outside firm grew out of a discussion in the fall by board members, who were shocked to learn that the district absorbed the loss of $575,000 in uncollected revenue last year from parents who did not pay for meals.
The debt appears to be an escalating problem. In 1996, Hillsborough lost $112,000.
Hillsborough's problem stems from children who pay the $1.50 to $1.80 lunch prices, not the 54 percent who qualify for free or reduced price meals because of low family income.
Even allowing parents to prepay for meals online for the first time this year hasn't curbed the debt.
"What we're here for is to feed kids," said Mary Kate Harrison, Hillsborough's director of food services. "It's just a shame we have parents who won't pay their bills."
The use of a collection agency would be unusual among Tampa Bay school districts. Neither Pinellas nor Pasco uses an outside company, but both districts, which are smaller, report losing far less money than Hillsborough.
Both the neighboring districts limit the number of meals elementary school students may charge, which Hillsborough does not. And unlike Hillsborough, the districts offer children cheese sandwiches and milk instead of the regular hot meal until the bill is paid.
"We've never had it continue more than a week," said Rick Kurtz, Pasco's director of food and nutrition services. "We really start working with the parents. They don't want their child to have to eat a cheese sandwich."
Hillsborough isn't considering the sandwich option now, mainly out of fear of stigmatizing children, but it does plan to review the procedure for collecting outstanding accounts from parents.
"The district has made a choice to give a nutritious, healthy meal, not that a (sandwich) isn't healthy," said Willie Campbell, Hillsborough's manager of purchasing. "We want to give them a healthy meal. We just want parents to pay for that healthy meal."
Children who come to school empty-handed are given a regular meal, but their account is automatically charged. Once that happens, cafeteria managers begin sending notes home and calling parents. They follow up all year long.
In seven out of 10 cases, the collection effort is successful. But other parents either refuse to pay or say they will and never do.
Harrison said some parents don't believe they should have to pay for the food their children are served at school. "They believe their child should eat because they pay taxes," she said.
Bryan Elementary School cafeteria manager Brenda Mitchell said she spends numerous hours trying to collect money from parents. Already this school year, $3,000 in unpaid bills have accumulated at the school.
"I have quite a few (families) up in the hundreds," said Mitchell, who has been at the Plant City school for nine years. "It's like the same ones over and over."
Every day at Limona Elementary in Brandon, cafeteria worker Olga Hearne said, several children come through the lunch line with no money.
"A lot of them tell you, "My parents don't have the money,"' she said. "My parents have too many bills.' We say that's okay sweetheart." The Pasco County school system faced a similar situation several years ago. Children would go to the cafeteria without money and workers would give them a meal. "We had many parents take advantage of that," Kurtz said.
Pasco tried using a collection agency for a brief time, but it didn't help much, he said. Then the Pasco School Board changed its policy two years ago, allowing elementary children to charge a week's worth of meals before the cheese sandwich alternative kicks in.
Middle and high school students in Pasco may only charge $2.
The district writes off less than $30,000 a year.
In Pinellas, elementary children can charge up to three meals before they get a sandwich and a note home. Middle school students get one lunch loan and in high school, no loans are allowed.
"Usually it's the parent who hasn't sent in the money," said Cathy Starman, an area field specialist for Pinellas County schools. "If someone is in financial need, we do everything we can to get them a free lunch application."
Once a charge has been made, cafeteria managers start collecting immediately. Last year, Pinellas only wrote off $9,180 in unpaid meal charges.
School officials agree it's unfortunate they have to come down on parents or make children eat sandwiches instead of full meals, but they believe an aggressive approach is necessary in many cases.
"It's a tough one," said Kurtz. "I'd rather have an elementary student be able to eat every day and have their parents pay their obligations."
- Melanie Ave can be reached at 813 226-3400 or melanie@sptimes.com