Donations paying off Dixon school’s student lunch debt spark larger conversation about school fees

DIXON — Student lunch debt at Dixon Public Schools, which totals about $9,625, is rapidly being paid off after a donation campaign was launched by the mother of a third-grade Jefferson Elementary student.

Destiny McElhinney began fundraising the week of Dec. 9 and the donations nearly tripled after an article about the effort was published by Shaw Local on Dec. 17. The morning after it was published, Brett Nicklaus of Trinity Cares pitched in $2,000, which took Jefferson’s total balance of $1,168 to zero.

[ Donations wipe out all student lunch debt at Dixon’s Jefferson Elementary in 24 hours ]

“It just broke my heart when I read that article,” Nicklaus said in an interview with Shaw Local. “I told my wife I was going to call her [McElhinney], and it took us less than a minute to decide that we were going to jump on board.”

On Friday, Dec. 20, Nicklaus presented a $1,168 check to Jefferson Principal Crystal Thorpe.

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Destiny McElhinney (left), Crystal Thorpe and Brett Nicklaus speak about the school lunch debt need in Dixon’s schools. (Alex T. Paschal)

Jefferson students, who are in second and third grades, are sent home with weekly reminders if their lunch account has an unpaid balance. On Friday, those students were sent home with a letter stating that the balance was paid off, Thorpe said in an interview with Shaw Local.

The total donations made to Jefferson exceeded its total lunch debt balance. Those leftover donations were placed into a school lunch fund for future student debt, Thorpe said.

The total balance at Washington Elementary of $930 was also paid off by an anonymous donor the night of Dec. 19, Nicklaus said.

As of Tuesday the total donations have cleared nearly half of the district’s total lunch debt, Nicklaus said.

To make a donation, go to Trinity Cares website and put “nourish to flourish” - the campaigns tag line - in the memo. All donations will go directly to Dixon Public Schools' lunch debt.

Trinity Cares is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that Nicklaus and his wife created about five years ago to raise money for various community needs as they arise. The organization also raised money and paid off a large portion of overdue lunch fees at Dixon Public Schools in 2020, Nicklaus said.

“When I saw that [article] I said, I can’t believe we’re having the same issue right now,” he said.

Nicklaus' overall goal is to start an ongoing lunch debt fund for the district to ensure that the debt doesn’t build up again, he said.

“It’s been a cool little team up with Destiny. She has made a statement. She wanted to help one kid and help the school, and now I think it could really blow up,” Nicklaus said.

With Trinity Cares, “we have the infrastructure to really make this more powerful and to benefit people,” he said.

Student lunch debt at Dixon Public Schools

At all of Dixon Public Schools, a hot lunch, which comes with milk, is $3 for students in kindergarten to fifth grade. For students in grades six to 12, it’s $3.05.

Students in kindergarten to 12th grade can buy a separate milk for 65 cents and breakfast costs $1.30 for all students.

If students are unable to pay “we will never, ever let them go without a lunch,” Superintendent Margo Empen said.

Instead, the cafeteria staff will charge the amount to the student’s account and it becomes an outstanding balance. Sometimes the charges add up and don’t get paid for a variety of reasons, Empen said.

The highest debt balance stands at $2,739 for Madison Elementary, which is grades four and five. Dixon High School has $2,718 in overdue lunch fees and Reagan Middle School has $2,087.

“This is something that we face every year,” Empen said. “I would not say that this year is any worse or better than any other year.”

To get balances paid off, the district will work with the students' parents to either set up a payment plan or help them sign up for the free and reduced lunch program if they meet the income requirements, Empen said.

“We’ve had very generous individuals, companies and families over the years who have raised money to pay off these debts so parents don’t have to worry about coming up with that money,” Empen said.

Student lunch fees at other Sauk Valley public schools

As McElhinney was first starting the fundraiser, she asked why students at Dixon Public Schools have to pay for lunch when it’s provided to students free in Rock Falls and Sterling.

Several years ago, Rock Falls Elementary School District 13 and Sterling Public Schools applied and were accepted into the United States Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program Community Eligibility Provision. The program allows the districts to provide all its students with free breakfast and lunch, Rock Falls ESD 13 Superintendent Dan Arickx and SPS Superintendent Tad Everett said in separate interviews with Shaw Local.

“We started it because it was nice not to have to collect lunch and breakfast fees from students‚” Arickx said. “It was a positive for our district. We were able to say, ‘hey, look, you don’t have to pay for the breakfast and lunch fees,’ and a lot of parents really appreciated that.”

The program is a federally assisted meal program available to public and nonprofit private schools as well as residential child care institutions. CEP allows districts that meet a threshold of low socioeconomic students, referred to as the identified student percentage, to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students without collecting household applications for free and reduced lunch.

The ISP measures the amount of students that are deemed eligible for free meals based on their enrollment or eligibility for other federally funded programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Everett elaborated stating the lunch that is offered at no cost to all Sterling’s students is what’s referred to as a “class A” lunch, meaning the entree that is served on that particular day.

“If a student chooses to do a la carte, additional items, those would come at a cost to that individual,” Everett said.

The qualifying identified student percentage was previously set at 40%, but a new rule that was put into effect in October 2023 lowered that minimum to 25%, according to fns.usda.gov.

The school’s identified student percentage must be 62.5% or greater in order to receive the free reimbursement rate for all reimbursable meals. Schools with ISPs from 25% to 62.5% are eligible for CEP, but at a lower reimbursement rate.

“There is a financial commitment from the district to participate in the program,” Everett said. “We just, at that time, made the decision that we thought that this was best for our families.”

For example, a district may receive a reimbursement for half the meals it serves but the cost of that other half would be the responsibility of the district to pay.

When asked why Dixon Public Schools does not offer its students free lunches, Empen said, “there’s a special qualification that you can sign up for with the state board if you have the numbers that support it. I don’t believe we have the numbers to support it, which is why we cannot offer that. We would certainly apply for them if we did.”

According to the Food Research and Action Center’s CEP database, which holds data from the 2023-24 school year, Washington Elementary has an ISP of 95%, Jefferson Elementary has 61%, Madison Elementary has 52%, Reagan Middle School has 50% and Dixon High School has 41%.

The broader conversation of student debt in public schools

Although Rock Falls ESD 13 and Sterling Public Schools don’t experience student lunch debt, the district superintendents said they face the same issue in other areas.

“We have the same scenario of debt from some of our families that is unpaid and accumulates over time,” Everett said. “From a larger lens, the debt conversation comes in two forms: your lunch program and your school fee structure.”

In public schools there are several other types of fees, including ones for registration at the beginning of each year, fees to participate in athletics or other extracurricular activities and more.

“When students have to pay, every school always deals with student debt from that,” Arickx said.

Best-case scenario, Everett said, would be to have a very minimal to zero fee structure.

“It’s a visionary goal that we would have, that our families could come to school truly for free, but we’re not there yet,” Everett said.