By: Bobby Falat
BISMARCK, N.D. (Valley News Live) – North Dakota voters will decide this fall whether to guarantee free breakfast and lunch for all public school students after a petition drive collected enough signatures to place the measure on the November ballot.
Secretary of State Michael Howe announced that 49,338 signatures were accepted from petitions submitted on April 9, more than 18,000 signatures above the required threshold. The measure will appear as Measure 3 on the Nov. 3, 2026, General Election ballot.
Petition organizers submitted 57,419 total signatures. Of those, 8,081 were rejected due to incorrect or insufficient information, including:
- 3,603 address omissions
- 1,950 out-of-state addresses or missing city and ZIP code
- 1,837 inadequate signatures
- 553 circulator errors
- 243 missing dates
The Secretary of State’s office had 35 days under state law to review the petitions and determine whether enough valid signatures were collected to qualify the measure.
What The Measure Would Do
If approved by voters, the constitutional amendment would require all public school districts, public schools, and public charter schools to provide one free breakfast and one free lunch each school day to enrolled students. Nonpublic schools, Bureau of Indian Education schools, and tribal schools would have the option, but not the requirement, to participate.
The measure would not apply to higher education institutions.
School districts that provide the meals would be eligible for state reimbursement, provided they maximize federal reimbursement and participate in applicable federal programs. The state would reimburse eligible schools at 100% of current free meal rates, with mandatory annual inflation adjustments.
If the state legislature cannot identify a funding source, the measure directs funds to be appropriated from the Legacy Earnings Fund.
