Schools threaten to report parents over lunch money debts

ENGLEWOOD, N.J. (AP) — School officials have threatened to report parents whose children ate without paying at a New Jersey school district's cafeterias after students racked up a $100,000 tab that hasn't been paid.

"A parent's failure or inability to satisfy his or her debts to a school lunch program is not a form of abuse or neglect," Ernest Landante, spokesman for the state Department of Children and Families, said in an email.

The threat of state action is supposed to be a last resort, Superintendent Robert Kravitz said, adding that the district needs to create a system to define the consequences for not paying the tab.