A month after Chancellor Carmen Fariña announced all school lunches would be free, 85,000 families who had pre-paid for meals are wondering if the city has stolen their lunch money.
The Department of Education has yet to refund the $1.3 million that families had on deposit in automatic-pay accounts — and parents who ask about refunds are getting the runaround.
“It’s completely outrageous,” said Mona Davids, an education activist and president of the NYC Parents Union. “How is it that they don’t have a process to reimburse parents? I mean it’s a given.
“We are paying all these bureaucrats all this money when something as basic as this they gave no forethought to.”
Families who paid full price lunch would add money through a credit card or bank transfer to an app called My School Bucks. A month of $1.75 lunches would cost $35. A family with three kids might deposit $105 in accounts. Many families paid in the days leading up to the school year, not knowing of the coming free-lunch decree. Others had money left over from the 2016-17 school year.
One Queens parent reported that when she called My School Bucks asking for a refund, she was told that the district had the money. When she contacted her district point person, she was told the department of education had the money. A parent liaison for the district then said she would contact the DOE for an answer. The parent is still waiting.
Rachel Sullivan, a mom in Manhattan’s District 2, said she feels like she’s being ripped off by the Department of Education, but doesn’t have time to haggle over a $26.75 refund. She even said she’d be willing to donate the money to her PTA.
“I’m sure it’s a big, government, red-tape mess,” she said. “If they were able to set up this easy payment system, it should be easy to get the money back.”
She noted that she always received reminders when her kids’ lunch-money accounts were running low, but now that the city owes her money, there’s been no communication.
A Post reporter posing as a parent seeking a refund encountered similar roadblocks. A My School Bucks employee said they don’t issue any refunds, and to call the school district for answers. A District 30 worker said, “The city is trying to devise a plan to reimburse parents. The reimbursement will take place as soon as they devise a way to reach parents. You’re not the only one having trouble.”
Parent Susan Schultz called out the city, and My School Bucks for failing to notify parents earlier about free lunch, so they would have known not to deposit money in their lunch accounts for this school year.
“Seriously would have been helpful if a letter went out, so people didn’t fund accounts,” she Tweeted, tagging Mayor Bill de Blasio among others.
After several Post inquiries, DOE officials on Friday said they would instruct parents on how to get refunds “in the coming weeks” and that refunds would be issued within 60 days of receiving the guidance.
“Free School Lunch for All ensures that our students will have access to free, healthy meals, regardless of where they live,” Department of Education Spokesman Michael Aciman said in a statement. “As we’ve said from the start, all families that made pre-payments for school lunch or have existing balances will receive a full refund.”
With Evelyn Cordòn-Brown