SNA President Shannon Gleave, RDN, SNS presented “The Other National Debt Crisis: Unpaid Meal Debt” at the Association of School Business Officials (ASBO) conference on Wednesday, September 18. Her presentation provided insight into the tight financial margins of running a robust school meal program, the complicated cause and effect of unpaid meal debt and the actionable strategies schools can adopt to mitigate debt and support students.
Here are some key statistics from her presentation:
- Over 92% of schools that charge for meals report struggling with unpaid meal debt.
- Only 17.0% of schools report that federal reimbursement rates are sufficient to cover the cost of producing a school lunch.
- In districts offering free meals to all students through programs like CEP and HSFMA, 72.2% report that unpaid meal debt is “not a challenge”.
Shannon also highlighted important advocacy opportunities in support of the National Advisory Council on Unpaid School Meal Debt Act and Healthy School Meals for All (HSMFA).
Related Articles

Advocacy & Policy, SNA News
SNA’s Public Policy & Legislation Chair Testifies at Senate Hearing on School Meals
Read More

School Nutrition Foundation, SNA Conferences, SNA News
SNF Announces SNIC25 Scholarship Recipients
Read More