Law requires all students get same meal options at lunch, even if they haven’t paid

NORTH CAROLINA — In North Carolina, a new law requires all students to be given the same meal options at lunch even if they haven’t paid.

Under the No Lunch Shaming policies, schools cannot serve alternative meals because of unpaid balances, penalize students whose accounts are overdrawn, or treat students differently based on whether they receive free or reduced-price lunches.

In the past, some school districts faced criticism for singling out students whose parents had unpaid lunch balances, including by stamping their hands or serving them alternate meals instead of the regular menu offerings.

The National Education Association defines lunch shaming as the practice of publicly embarrassing or stigmatizing students because their school meal accounts carry unpaid balances or lunch debt.

The new policies are part of the $34 billion budget signed into law in July.

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