Congress might consider a pack of bills that would expand the federal government’s role in providing free or reduced-price meals to public school students, but noticeably absent so far is any legislation addressing fraud in the entitlement programs.

The federal law currently governing school meal subsidies — the Child Nutrition Act — expired Sept. 30. Lawmakers approved an extension through the end of October, and permanent reauthorization might not come until next year.

Congress could soon act, however, on bills that would devote more taxpayer funds to the programs and expand eligibility for students — even while questions about the reliability of one entitlement, the free and reduced-price lunch program, remain.

The school lunch program is meant for families at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level, but parents are required only to self-report household income on applications, leading critics to wonder whether some families are gaming the system.

A Carolina Journal investigation last year revealed that over half of a 3 percent pool of applicants in North Carolina couldn’t prove eligibility to participate. The numbers this year are similar.

“If you look at any district in America, you would find similar abuse,” said Lisa Snell, director of education and child welfare at the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank.

Nevertheless, lawmakers have focused on pumping more money into the programs and trying to get more students to participate.

In a letter signed by a bipartisan group of 40 senators in January, Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat and chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said that child nutrition programs “play a critical role in preventing hunger and promoting healthy diets among children from birth until the end of secondary school.”

More funding, higher eligibility

Earlier this year, President Barack Obama proposed a $1-billion increase for school nutrition programs. He included $100 million in additional funding for the programs in his economic stimulus bill, passed by Congress in February.

About a half-dozen bills have been introduced in Congress that would expand or revise the programs, although none have been brought up in committee.

One bill, sponsored by Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, would allow high-poverty schools to enroll all students in free breakfast and lunch programs, bypassing the application process altogether.

Another measure, sponsored by Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., would allow qualifying school districts to convert to a paperless system. Rather than have parents self-report income on applications, districts would gauge the number of students eligible by relying on income and poverty statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau or participation rates for food stamps and Medicaid.

Those bills don’t go far enough for some child nutrition advocates, who suggest scrapping the income threshold limits altogether, meaning that all students, regardless of income, would be eligible for free breakfasts and lunches.

The New York City Coalition Against Hunger, for example, recommends that Congress reauthorize the school meals program to provide “universal in-classroom breakfast and universal lunch for every student, regardless of their household’s income.”

Potential fraud remains

The latest data on free and reduced-price lunch verification in North Carolina show that potential fraud continues unchecked.

Federal law requires school districts each year to verify the incomes of 3 percent (or 3,000, whichever is less) of participants considered “error prone,” meaning households whose reported earnings are within $100 monthly, or $1,200 yearly, of the income eligibility limitation.

If applicants fail to respond, or respond with evidence that shows too high an income, officials reduce or terminate their benefits.

As CJ reported previously, 54 percent of surveyed applicants for the 2007-2008 school year could not or would not provide income proof to justify their meal benefits. The potential fraud rate remained largely unchanged for the 2008-2009 school year at 56 percent.

Currituck, Hoke, and Polk county schools were the only districts with perfect verification rates. Perquimans, Bertie, and Northampton county schools had the poorest verification rate.

The state’s two largest districts — Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and Wake County Public Schools — had potential fraud rates of 68 percent and 62 percent, respectively.

David N. Bass is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.