 She also notes that 19 of the 26 schools in the district federally qualify to give out free meals to the entire student population, but says the district still ended the year with $22,000 in meal debt. Ferrand explains 20% of students with meal debt account for 80% of that figure. It's a very small few that probably should have filled out a meal benefit form but didn't, that are actually carrying the bulk of this debt.