There is no free lunch

School districts statewide run up tabs into the tens of thousands of dollars providing free meals to students who do not pay for them and aren't covered by subsidized-meal programs.

It's a dilemma, but one that ought not be resolved by taking a page from the Edmonds School District, which until recently confronted students and confiscated the unpaid meal.

Caught in the public glare, Edmonds suspended its policy and has already garnered some success from redoubled efforts to collect unpaid lunch fees from parents. Good.

Scores of districts are grappling with the same challenge, one exacerbated by rising food costs. The immediate solution is to feed the kids. Students can't achieve when they're hungry.

In Seattle Public Schools, students in kindergarten through fifth grade without lunch money get three to five hot meals gratis while the district works out something with their families. From experience, district officials know most of the families simply forgot to load up the meals card. Others didn't know they qualified for subsidized meals as low-income families.

Schools should not be expected to absorb the costs of feeding children. That's a parent's job. While lunches can be expensive, particularly in families with multiple children, the responsibility remains a parents'.

Some families in the subsidized-meals programs still find it a challenge to pay their share of the costs. The state Legislature approved funding free meals for students in kindergarten through third grade who qualify for the subsidized programs. An additional $9.3 million a biennium would expand the program to the other eight grades.