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As students in the Washington area went home for winter break, a substantial number were in debt — to the school cafeteria.

Students in the Washington area owe nearly half a million dollars so far this school year in “lunch debt,” according to an analysis by The Washington Post. These are K-12 students in public schools who did not have enough money to pay for meals in their school cafeteria, so they racked up debt to eat.

In some cases, students who cannot pay for lunch are denied hot food and handed a cheese sandwich, according to...

Charitable giving is a hallmark of the holiday season, but this year, do-gooders aren’t just dropping off clothes for the needy and sending food to soup kitchens. They’re paying off student lunch debt — a growing problem in the nation’s schools.

To eat the lunches provided by school cafeterias, students not enrolled in federally subsidized free or reduced lunch programs must have funds in their meal accounts. But if their families run out of money, students accrue lunch debt or may be denied meals. Some schools give students a grace period, allowing them to continue eating lunch for several...

FRIDAY'S RESOLUTION OF the weeks long partial federal government shutdown has averted a crisis in an area long held to be a vulnerability in the public education system: the 22 million poor students who rely on the federal National School Lunch and breakfast programs for meals.

With federal employees returning to return to work and federal funds beginning to flow again, the programs are back on safe ground. But the shutdown drew attention to the uncomfortable duality of a meals program housed at public schools run by the Department of Education yet administered by the Department of Agriculture.