CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – Combined student meal account debt in Clay, Nassau, and St. Johns county school districts totals more than $450,000, with St. Johns County alone reporting more than $228,000, district records show.
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As of Jan. 9, 2026, St. Johns County School District reported outstanding student meal debt of $228,533.44, up from $188,757.61 on July 24, 2025. Nassau County’s unpaid meal balance has been reported at about $200,000 by a local woman organizing donation efforts, and Clay County officials said their outstanding meal debt is about $25,000.
Taken together, the three districts’ totals exceed $450,000. News4JAX has requested meal-debt figures from Duval County Public Schools and is awaiting a response.
District sizes and programs offer context for the balances. St. Johns County has about 45 schools and roughly 52,000 students, the district said. Nassau County has 22 schools and about 12,700 students, according to the Florida Department of Education. Clay County has about 54 schools and more than 39,300 students.
School officials point to programs that limit unpaid balances. St. Johns and Clay both participate in the Community Eligibility Provision, which allows high-poverty schools to provide breakfast and lunch at no charge to all students. St. Johns currently has 13 CEP schools; Clay has 20.
“A student’s accomplishments in school and them graduating going to the next level is not going to be held up by a school lunch account balance,” Michael Holmes, director of food and nutrition services for St. Johns County, said in a statement. He said no student is denied meals and that the district works with county programs, faith-based organizations and community donors to help cover unpaid balances.
St. Johns’ prepaid meal policy states that no student will be denied a meal because of a negative account balance. The policy requires notifications to parents at least twice a month once an account is at or below zero, offers applications for free or reduced-price meals, and prohibits à la carte purchases when an account reaches $0 without cash. The district also said meal debt rolls over from year to year and does not reset annually.
Clay County officials described an active effort to keep balances manageable. The district said its food and nutrition services staff make personal phone calls and send emails when accounts go negative, send reminders home with students and promote the MySchoolBucks payment system, which lets parents set low-balance alerts. Clay officials credited a team effort among directors, cafeteria managers and parents with limiting the district’s outstanding balance.
In Nassau County, Ashley Dreher has been raising donations and organizing fundraisers to reduce the district’s reported $200,000 in meal debt. She said the district’s nutrition director told her unpaid balances can affect students’ graduation status; the outlet has contacted Nassau County officials multiple times for confirmation, but said it has not heard back.
Dreher said donations and community fundraisers have reduced by several thousand dollars, and she continues to solicit help from residents and organizations.
School meal debt has become a point of community concern as federal pandemic-era universal meal programs ended, officials said. Holmes of St. Johns said when families became accustomed to free meals during the pandemic, returning to the standard system led to an uptick in unpaid balances.
Community donations can be used to pay down student meal debt in some districts, and several districts said they contact families and offer free or reduced meal applications as balances grow.
News4JAX will update this story when Duval County’s student meal debt figures are provided and if Nassau County responds to requests for comment.