CRANSTON — The city’s school system has hired a collection agency to track down money that students owe for lunch.

In previous years, dating back to Sept. 1, 2016, the district has written off a total of $95,508 in unpaid lunch money, according to the schools’ chief operating officer, Raymond L. Votto Jr.

For the current school year, the unpaid balance is already at $45,859, Votto told parents in a recent letter.

“The district lunch program cannot continue to lose revenue,” he wrote.

In an interview Thursday, Votto said students are running up balances when they don’t have sufficient funds in accounts accessed with a pin number.

Some students spend money allocated to the account by their parents early in the week and run deficits after that. Other students who never had money in the first place, run up balances.

Students who have no cash with them at lunch, said Votto, are able to eat the meal that’s served — but not additional items, such as potato chips — even if they lack the funds in their accounts.

Lunch funds provided by the federal government only pay for the actual meals, Votto said.

Parents are notified of an unpaid balance when a student receives food on five occasions with no money in the account, he said.

No one, he said, will be denied food under the new regime. “Obviously we continue to feed our kids no matter what the balances are,” said Votto, who added that students can also receive free breakfast.

In the past, the school district hasn’t succeeded in its own efforts to recover the lunch money.

The new collection agency, Transworld Systems, will begin pursuing debtors in January, Votto said.