Readers of this blog who hail from the Triangle area will be interested to learn that Wake County’s rate of potential fraud in the free and reduced-lunch program stayed pretty much the same this year compared with last.
As reported previously by Carolina Journal, 64 percent of a sample pool of F&R lunch applicants in Wake County Public Schools had their benefits reduced or revoked during the 2007-2008 school year. Failure or refusal to comply with a verification of income from the school district led to the reduction or elimination of benefits.
The F&R lunch program is meant for low-income families, but some school board members have questioned whether wealthier, ineligible families are receiving the benefit.
Wake’s 2008-2009 school year verification shows a drop from 64 percent to 62 percent. Out of 421 applicants surveyed:
- 152 responded and had no change in eligibility status
- 6 responded and had their benefits increased
- 67 responded and had their benefits decreased from free to reduced-price
- 48 responded and had their benefits eliminated altogether
- 148 did not respond
The sample was taken from a pool of applicants considered “error prone,” meaning their self-reported income came within $1,200 annually of the income eligibility limitation.
The USDA says that school districts risk losing their federal school lunch funding if they conduct a more thorough verification of the program. See CJ’s exclusive series on school lunch cheating for more.
