location: MA
My local school system uses a payment system for school lunches which is managed by a company called “MySChooBucks” (a division of Heartland Payments Systems). As parents, we don’t have a choice to opt out and use cash: if my child wants to purchase food in the school cafeteria, she has to use this system.
On July 14, 2025, I received an email that my child’s account had a balance of NEGATIVE $8.50. (For the record, my child was an 8th grader.) This didn’t make sense because my child brought her lunch every day to school. I know this, because I was the one who made those lunches.
So I checked the purchase history. There were no purchases listed, but the purchase history only goes back 3 months. In my town, school ends in late June, which means she didn’t purchase anything in the last 2 months prior to school getting out.
Next, I posted to the town Facebook page (yes, I live in a small town) to ask if anyone else got a strange balance notice. To my surprise, multiple other parents received similar notices. One parent mentioned she got the notice even though her student didn’t attend public school that year.
Then I called up MySchollBucks support. The operator confirmed to me that I had a “low balance” notification setting at $10, which means when the balance drops below $10, I automatically receive an email. Since I had not received an email while school was still in session, it’s a provable fact that the balance was greater than $10 when the school year ended.
The result of the call was that the operator denied the money was taken out of my account and instead insisted that my child must have made purchases in the cafeteria. This is the exact samw response that other parents got when they reached out to MySchoolBucks support.
For the record, the money was stolen from my child’s account at the same time that Heartland Payment Systems agreed to pay $18.5 million to resolve a class action lawsuit ( https://www.msbfeesettlement.com/ ). I’m tempted to start a new class action lawsuit, but I’m not sure who to contact or if this is even the next appropriate step.
What should I do next?
Edit: I forgot to mention that the reason a child had money in her account is because in 7th grade she used to eat in the cafeteria. In eighth grade, Massachusetts started handing out free lunches and the food became inedible.
Comments
NAL, but for the love of god though, don’t make the mistake I’ve made in the past, and document everything. Record phone calls, I’d call them back and have the same conversation on record. I’d email over phone so it’ll be in writing, I’d take screenshots, everything. For any attorney to be successful, they’ll need evidence.
Contact the same law firm and let them know what is going on. They might be very interested or they may not be.
Have you spoken to the school ? I’d contact the school secretary and ask to be put in touch with food service department administrator or business office. It sounds like this is an error on the school district as they closed out their books at the end of the school year. mySchoolBucks is only giving you an answer for what they can see- the district had to reconcile the accounts before they closed their books and prepare for an annual audit. If multiple parents experienced this issue it sounds like an internal review could easily fix it. If your children attend a small school district the local isd might be providing support for business or food service operation and it could just be an honest mistake. Not necessarily scandalous.
They must have access to records further back than 3 months, even if they don’t make them available online. Did you ask for them? Is it the position of MSB that the balance was -$8.50 at the end of March 2025? What does your child say? Did she supplement her packed lunches with cafeteria purchases?
It’s not a “provable fact” that the lack of an email indicates that the balance was >$10. The email might not have been delivered, could be in your spam folder, or their system might have glitched and not sent it to you. If your child spent the money, the fact that you didn’t receive a low balance notification doesn’t mean that you don’t owe it.
If MSB is inaccurately deducting money from students’ accounts, then you would definitely have the makings of a class action. But you are far from establishing that. I would start by asking them for your student’s full account history.
Did the purchase history also show the previous balance on it?