Robin Nelson visits with The Jay Thomas Show regarding the proposed measure regarding school meals
FARGO, ND – A Fargo resident says polls show strong support for providing school meals to students.
“When 80 percent of most of the polls in North Dakota are supportive of this universal school meals concept, it was kind of our obligation to bring it to the voters,” Robin Nelson said.
Nelson is the chair of the sponsoring committee that is putting forth a petition effort to get a ballot measure on the 2026 ballot that calls for schools in the state to provide a breakfast and lunch meal to students across the state – at no charge to anyone.
The proposed measure would apply to all public school districts – including public charter schools. Private and native schools will have an option to opt in to the program.
Nelson said that while the funds to pay for the meals will come from taxes, she feels that the right momentum is in place to get the concept across the finish line.
The group’s goal is to get 40,000 signatures, which is nearly 10,000 more than the required 31,164 to get the issue on the ballot.
“We don’t think it will be a problem,” Nelson said.
The goal is to get the issue to the November 2026 general election ballot. Should the issue pass, it would go into effect during the 2027-28 school year.
During the last legislative session, the cost was estimated to be between $140-$180 million per biennium.
“We feel that’s still pretty accurate,” Nelson said.
Families with two school age students are estimated to save roughly $2,100 per year.
“It’s kind of like a tax break for young families,” Nelson said.
Should the state not be able to use whatever funds they take the money to cover the meals from, there’s language that would require the state use legacy fund earnings to pay for the meals.
“A lot of legislators do support this concept,” Nelson said. “They just didn’t agree on how we get there.”
Passage of the measure will not impact any federal funding.
“We will leverage the existing federal funding and the free and reduced meals,” Nelson said. “So really, the only thing that’s going to change is how they’re paid for.”
