Could a new bill be the answer to Utah’s school lunch debt?

SALT LAKE CITY — A bill is moving through the Legislature that could help solve Utah’s school lunch debt issue.

School lunch debt continues to be a big issue and HB476 strives to make a big dent in the nearly $3 million debt without burdening taxpayers. Bill sponsor Rep. Matt MacPherson, R-Salt Lake, wants to add an option to donate to the debt on tax returns.

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“It is an easy place where you can just simply mark a donation from your tax return, for example, or for some new money and you can be sure that it’s going to the right place,” MacPherson said.

MacPherson believes donations could be just as effective in combating student lunch debt as a tax while still giving taxpayers the option to contribute. He’s optimistic that if people choose to donate even just $5, the debt would be significantly reduced.

“If the state pays for it, then every taxpayer pays for it,” MacPherson said. “But in this particular case, any taxpayer that would like to pay for it absolutely can. And if there’s enough of those, then we can solve this issue with a voluntary process.”

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The bill passed in committee and will go to the Senate’s second reading calendar to be voted on again.

“I didn’t personally support the idea of the state just simply paying for all kids’ lunches, but I did think that there may be another way of doing this in a way where we could still tackle, like, the lunch debt without burdening taxpayers across the board,” MacPherson said. 

So far, there hasn’t been any votes against the bill.

Britt Johnson is a reporter and anchor for KSL NewsRadio.