SURVEY: K-12 Districts Continue to Face Staff Shortages, Rising Food Costs, Unpaid Meal Debt Across Nutrition Programs

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Jul 17, 2023, 07:04 ET

District superintendents and school nutrition leaders are confident in providing healthy meals to students, but struggle with operations and looming challenges of proposed updates to school nutrition standards

WILMINGTON, N.C., July 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Amidst declining participation and proposed nutrition standards, a new survey of K-12 school nutrition professionals, conducted by Edge Research and K-12 solutions provider LINQ, found that superintendents and district nutrition directors are worried about how to navigate rising costs of school nutrition programs amidst declining revenue sources and do not see a nearterm solution. In fact, 78 percent of respondents agree that nutrition budgets will only get tighter in the future.

As states across the country consider universal school meals for all students, 79 percent of respondents report they are confident they provide healthy meals to all students in their districts. But district nutrition leaders are concerned that the proposed USDA guidelines on sodium and added sugar may influence participation in their school nutrition programs. The survey found 73 percent of leaders feel restricting flavored milk to grades 9-12 would have a somewhat to very negative impact on their program.

"Districts already ensure all students have access to nutritious food because of the standards that were enacted more than 10 years ago," said Mike Borges, president and general manager of LINQ Nutrition. "District nutrition directors face issues with staff recruitment and retention, increased costs of food, supply chain issues, and restrictive budgets. Districts need the tools and resources to support efficient, effective school meal programs and to provide a more holistic nutrition education for students and families."

More than half (57 percent) of superintendents and nutrition directors report concern with increasing costs associated with running school nutrition programs, including staffing and reimbursement rates for per-meal costs. Additionally, 52 percent of leaders surveyed shared that staffing shortages have hurt their nutrition program's ability to operate efficiently.

Additional survey findings include:

Only 56% of respondents feel they perform well in collecting meal applications
Less than half of respondents (47%) grade their ability to manage student meal debt with an "A" or "B"
One in five respondents indicates that students with meal debt sometimes do not receive a hot meal
65 percent of district nutrition leaders believe restricting flavored milk in grades K-5 will somewhat or very negatively impact their program
More than half (52 percent) of those surveyed believe sodium restrictions will somewhat or very negatively impact their program

While meal debt and nutrition standards continue to top nutrition debates, staffing shortages are a continued threat for all districts, especially those without modern technologies and systems to help manage manual tasks.

More than 70 percent of leaders surveyed reported that their back office activities, such as maintaining inventory, menu planning and production records, require some level of manual effort. Nearly half of smaller school districts reported using all or mostly manual systems (48 percent), while larger school districts reported using at least partially manual processes (65 percent).

"While every district serves a unique student population, districts of all sizes and geographies can benefit from automated nutrition platforms that reduce burden on their limited staff and budget," said Phil Broyles, director of nutrition services & custodial services at Willard Public Schools. "By automating our nutrition program, we were able to use real-time data to inform decisions and optimize our system. We automated processes like inventory, payments, digital menus and nutrition information to increase communication with families, reduce the time it takes to review individual accounts and send payment notifications, and monitor supply to prevent shortages."

Automated systems make meal planning easier by ensuring inventory, production and sales records are accurately updated in real time. Streamlined processes can help districts cut down on unpaid meal debt by delivering an easy, direct way for families to submit meal applications and refill lunch accounts. Most importantly, the greater efficiency of integrated, automated systems drives down costs. Accurate data promotes informed purchasing and reduced waste. Streamlined workflows increase efficiency, which boosts staff retention. Automated processes mean better budget forecasting and cost management.

To learn more about the findings or to download the full report, visit www.linq.com.

About LINQ
LINQ brings a new level of digital transformation and operation efficiency to K-12 leaders across districts and states. Built by a team of K-12 experts, our solutions include Nutrition for districts and states, Education Resource Planning (ERP), Forms & Workflows for districts and Payment portals for Parents and Guardians. Through our first-of-its kind K-12 Business Platform, LINQ is committed to Empowering the Business of K-12.

About Edge Research
Edge Research is a full-service, independent marketing research firm working at the forefront of education research, capturing the pulse of the nation and uncovering key insights on some of the most important topics in education today.

Contact: Leah Van Blaricom, [email protected]

SOURCE LINQ