Ballot measure would provide free school meals to North Dakota students

FARGO (North Dakota Monitor) – North Dakotans may have the chance to cast their ballot on whether every public school student in the state can have breakfast and lunch for free.

Advocacy organization Together For School Meals plans to submit language for the potential ballot petition to the Secretary of State’s Office this week.

If approved and the required 31,164 signatures for constitutional ballot measure are gathered, submitted and verified, the measure would appear on the 2026 general election ballot in November with the free meals beginning during the 2027-28 school year.

Robin Nelson, chair of the ballot petition’s sponsoring committee, said the effort to provide school meals to North Dakota students for free began with a small team of citizens in preparation for the 2021 legislative session. While legislative proposals have failed, she said polling shows it is popular with the public.

“We carefully brought it through the proper channels legislatively and, due to the high approval rating across the state of North Dakota, we weren’t going to stop if this is what our North Dakota citizens want,” Nelson said.

Free school lunches for all students received 79% support in a recent North Dakota United poll. In 2024, a poll by the North Dakota News Cooperative revealed 82% of those asked support more government involvement in providing school meals.

She also said the measure would affect every public school student in North Dakota and private and tribal schools can opt-in to the program.

Nelson is a school board member for Fargo Public Schools and the CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of the Red River Valley, but she said she will be working on the ballot petition as a private citizen.

During the 2025 legislative session, two bills were introduced that would have provided breakfast and lunch for every North Dakota student, attending public or private school, at no cost to the student. Both bills failed in the North Dakota House of Representatives, with some lawmakers citing a need to balance the state budget while others said a federal program was adequate.

In the funding estimate, Nelson said the measure relies on schools receiving 100% reimbursement from federal free or reduced meal programs. Federal programs provide free school meals to students with household incomes at, or below, 130% of the federal poverty level, and partial reimbursement for households below 185% the federal poverty level.

Legislators have used state funding to slightly expand who qualifies for free and reduced meals. Earlier this year, legislators added about $7.3 million in state funding. With the change, a family of four with income of $72,000 a year qualifies for free school meals.

If the measure passes next year, the petition would allow state lawmakers to fund the program how they see fit. However, if lawmakers don’t identify a funding source during the 2027 legislative session, language in the petition would require it to be funded from the Legacy Fund earnings. That fund also provides money for property tax relief through the primary residence tax credit.

Amy Jacobson, executive director of Prairie Action ND and member of the coalition, said when kids are fed, they are more productive in the classroom.

“This is something that will directly impact a family’s ability to have more money in their pocket book and be able to spend that on other necessary needs that they do have,” Jacobson said. “There is nothing better that North Dakotans could be investing in than our future, and that is our children.”

By Michael Achterling.