Minnesota school meals offers insight to ND
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As North Dakota voters prepare to decide whether to guarantee free school meals for all students, research from a neighboring state offers a look at the potential benefits and challenges.
A recent report from the Food Group shows K-12 students at participating Minnesota schools have benefited from one free breakfast and lunch per day since 2023.
Sophia Lenarz-Coy, executive director of The Food Group, said the policy move has increased student participation, reduced stigma and helped ease program administration. For household budgets, she pointed out on average, free school meals are saving families about $1,000 per student each year.
“With grocery prices as high as they are and gas prices as high as they are, that savings for all Minnesota families comes at a really important time,” Lenarz-Coy said.
Lenarz-Coy pointed out longer lunch lines have been a challenge for some districts, which may have to consider extended lunch periods or staggered schedules to manage.
North Dakota's proposed initiative for universal school meals will appear as Measure 2 on the midterm ballot in November. Nationally, researchers said the effect of the programs on test scores remains unclear, with long-term studies needed.
Local opponents, including Gov. Kelly Armstrong, argued the measure would lock the state into a costly spending commitment, with estimates topping $124 million every two years. Critics also questioned whether taxpayers should cover meals for families who can afford to pay. Lenarz-Coy contended the investment is one of the most powerful aspects of the program because it eliminates distinctions between free and paid meals.
“There is just no division of which kids are getting free lunch versus paying for lunch, and it has made it so that it’s kind of just the normal cool thing to participate in lunch versus having those divisions,” Lenarz-Coy said.
She added prior to the program's adoption, some kids reported experiencing lunch shaming when they ran low or had a negative balance in their accounts. Lenarz-Coy encouraged states considering similar measures to shift their mindset around meals at public schools.
“We do not ask students, regardless of their income level, to pay for their own bus transportation, to pay for their books. Eating a nutritious, balanced breakfast and lunch, it’s not a separate issue. If we want kids to do as well as they can in school, feeding them is a part of that,” Lenarz-Coy said.
While the issue has been debated in the North Dakota Legislature for years, it is the first time the current statewide constitutional initiative has qualified for the ballot.