The school district in Arkansas’ largest city is asking for help to pay off school lunch debt. At a press conference this week, Little Rock School District Superintendent Jermall Wright said the district's nutrition department has few resources to bridge the gap between school budgets and unpaid student lunch debt.
Stephanie Walker Hynes is a Little Rock food commissioner and school nutritionist for the LRSD. She said the district’s total school lunch debt was over $174,000 halfway through the week, which is still growing.
The debt comes from 13 schools throughout Little Rock. Arkansas is the most food-insecure state in the nation, according to a report from Feeding America.
