And then what pisses me off is they feed kids PB&J when they don't have any money in their account.. OK... I get that. BUT several times they have miscounted the lunches and my daughter has ended up with PB&J (which she hates) because they ran out of lunches and then they still charged me for them. That's when I really get pissed.

Well they should for the amount of money I paid to register her

I was referring to public schools in my city.

she is in a public school. The prices are so high for this school because it's brand new. They built this huge friggin school in anticipation for the growth of the city. So now they charge enormous prices

You pay for registration for a public school?!

I know we have a "no tolerence" policy here at our school. I actually had to sign a paper stating that I was aware of it, hey money is tight in the school systems.
I also had to pay for book rental...$78.32 so my son could borrow their books. Oh living in Indiana is so wonderful!! I think we are one of the last states to charge book fees?
Our school system is set up to actually call you if your child is low on money in his account. Honestly, what I do is send an extra $5.00 at the beginning of the year and then I just send his lunch money every week. Now my son has the option to eat off the salad bar, so that takes away from the $5.00. So then I go online and check his account balance and this way he never goes without lunch. I guess it helps when your friend is the cook also..I don't think she would ever let my son go without eating. She would probably let me pay it the next day, but that has yet to happen to us.
Sorry they involved your daughter

the really sad part is that the schools run the lunch programs as a profit-making venture.

schools here are given a budget that is set by the ministry, and that amount excludes salaries.

over and above the budget, the schools can, and do, hold their own fundraisers.

i've worked in the accounting department at a very large school board in canada and i can tell you first-hand of the waste that was incurred, especially at the administrative level. i have a difficult time believing that the board has no money; the problem lies in the disbursement of funds and the fact that the board has no accountability.