Meal Charge Procedure

2025-2026 Meal Charge Procedure

The Richardson Independent School District recognizes that adequate nutrition is essential to students’ mental, physical and academic growth.

Like many districts in the area facing difficult decisions in the midst of funding challenges, meal charge limits are being implemented to reduce balances for accumulated lunch debt. In the 2024-25 school year, RISD absorbed more than half a million dollars in student meal debt.

New for 2025-26: A student with an exhausted or insufficient balance on their meal account shall be allowed a grace period of five days to continue to purchase meals for up to a total negative balance of $25.75 in elementary and up to $26.50 in secondary schools. Once this charge limit is reached, students in Kinder through 12th grade will receive an alternate entrée of sunflower seed butter, jelly and whole grain bun, at both breakfast and lunch. In addition to the alternate entree, students will keep their choice of sides which may include fruit, vegetable, and milk.

A student with a negative balance will be allowed to purchase meals with money in hand at the register.

Please note, the new meal procedure does not impact students who qualify for free and reduced-price meals through the School Breakfast and National School Lunch Programs. All families are encouraged to submit an application.

In addition, it does not impact students attending one of the 23 campuses that are part of the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program. Families should complete the household family data form. View list of Schools.

Purpose:

This guidance is established to provide consistent meal charge account procedures throughout the District.

Procedure Goals:

To treat all students and families with dignity and respect.
To establish a consistent District procedure regarding charges and collection of charges.
To encourage parents and guardians to assume the responsibility of meal payments and to promote self-responsibility of the student.
To support positive interactions with District staff, students and parents/guardians to the maximum extent possible and to ensure compliance with District policies and local, state, or federal mandates.

Responsibilities:

Parents/Guardians

Parents/Guardians are responsible for paying for all of their student’s meal charges. All meal charges eaten before a free or reduced-price meal application is processed or approved are the responsibility of the parent and must be paid for in a timely manner. Parents are encouraged to use schoolcafe.com/RICHARDSONISD to pay for meals and/or to track purchases made by their student(s), and setting up an account in advance of the 2025-26 school year is strongly recommended to ensure that student meal choices can be provided for the entire school year. Payment can also be made in cash or check at the student’s school. Parents who wish to prohibit or limit their students from charging meals, can contact the Child Nutrition Department and request that the student account be flagged for no debiting.

Child Nutrition Department

The Child Nutrition Kitchen Manager is responsible for maintaining charge records and notifying the student’s parent/guardian of outstanding balances. Negative balance slips can be printed weekly and given to the school office to be sent home with the student to notify the parent / guardian. This can also be done electronically to the E-mail provided to the District. Kitchen Managers may call parents directly to notify them of unpaid student meal balances. Calls on delinquent accounts are also made to families from the District to notify them of the negative balance.

The Child Nutrition Department is responsible for providing meals that meet the School Breakfast Program (SBP) and National School Lunch Program (NSLP) requirements to all students. All students attending an elementary school that are not qualified for free meals and have reached their negative (-$25.75) account limit will be offered an alternate meal at breakfast and at lunch. All students attending a junior high, middle school or high school that are not qualified for free meals and have reached their negative (-$26.50) account limit will be offered an alternate meal at breakfast and at lunch. The cost of the alternate meal will be charged to the district. Cashiers may not use the student’s cash in hand to repay charges if the student intends to purchase that day’s meal.

School District

The School District will support the Child Nutrition Department in debt collection activities. Federal guidelines prohibit the Child Nutrition Department from writing off debts as a result of charged meals. Every effort will be made to collect for unpaid meals. While not all inclusive, these measures may include the following:

An automated telephone call to the parent/guardian
An email sent to the parent/guardian
Kitchen Manager contacting parent(s) by phone
Kitchen Manager sending notices to the school office to go home with students weekly

School meal status is treated as a confidential matter and should not be a consideration for families considering applying for assistance.

This procedure for unpaid meal charges is designed to ensure that all students who want to eat a school meal receive a meal without impediment(s). This procedure should be reviewed with all school-level staff, including school nurses, school counselors, principals, assistant principals and other administrators. Please contact the child nutrition office at 469-593-0102 if you have any questions.