Write your article here...Although Granite School District has some of the lowest school lunch fees in the state, the District’s lunch debt has grown to nearly $1 million. Schools on the west side seem to have been hit the hardest, with West Valley’s Granger High racking up nearly $73,000 and Beehive Elementary in Kearns approaching $15,000.

GSD Director of Child Nutrition Dana Canino oversees the District’s vast lunch program that provides 7,500 breakfasts and 24,500 lunches each day. Even with lunch debt, no child is denied a meal but Canino wants parents to know they can apply for free or reduced lunch anytime during the year. In fact, for the last decade, students who qualify for reduced lunch have been given meals at no charge.

“We were awarded grant funds to continue doing so through the state of Utah,” she said. “So we’re going to continue that program. We also provide universal free-of-charge breakfast to approximately 80% of our students.”

As GSD’s current school lunch debt exceeds $940,000, the Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation is bringing awareness to the problem and raising funds to help cover some of those costs. The organization just paid off lunch debt for its 41st school and paid off the entire debt for schools in Lehi with a $52,000 donation.

For UTLDR Executive Director DJ Bracken, the GSD situation hits close to home. As a Kearns resident, he discovered many schools in his community have thousands of dollars of lunch debt. 

“I understand the incentive the schools have to get this money paid, because if they don’t, it’s the money for teachers, field trips and school supplies,” Bracken said. “That’s the money that ends up covering this debt. Literally, the money that’s paying people’s salaries. It’s not like they can just magically summon the money.”

GSD does have recourse to recoup some of those costs. Once a student leaves the District, the lunch debt is sent to a third-party debt collector, or if a student’s debt reaches $500, that is also turned over to a collector. 

While it is true that seniors cannot walk during graduation if they have lunch debt, GSD uses donations to pay those students’ debts first, so they can walk with their class. 

“For the last several years, our senior student balances have mostly been paid off through very generous donations,” Canino said. “When we take in nonspecific donations, donations that aren’t tied to a specific school or specific grade, we concentrate first on applying those to our graduating seniors to help them.”

GSD has some of the lowest school lunch prices in the state, with daily fees costing $1.50 for elementary schools, $1.65 for junior high and $1.75 for high school. But even with low lunch prices, struggling families deal with an uncertain economy, which contributes to the debt.

Canino said applying for free or reduced lunch is the best way to help families moving forward, and it benefits the District.

“We want parents to apply because it doesn’t just count towards lunch, it can help the schools retain other funding. There are also additional benefits from private companies that offer benefits to families and households that have qualifying indicators,” she said. “We work hard over here to take care of the students and feed them meals so they can prepare for studying and learning.”

For those who would like to help pay off school lunch debt, visit Utldr.org. Donors can also select a specific school for their donation. Bracken said another way to help is to contact him to organize a fundraising event for a school. 

“They can contact me through my website, and often I’m able to get businesses around the state to give 100% matches,” Bracken said. “Maybe we can come together as a community and cover one school at a time until suddenly we’re covering the entire state.”