Free school lunches possibly on the menu
BY JAMES C. FALCON
james@nordaknorth.com
BISMARCK — An appropriation for free lunch grants is among the school lunch-themed legislation currently in talks in the North Dakota Legislature.
House Bill 1491 would use a sum of $89,500,000 out of any money in the general fund in the state treasury to provide grants to school districts “to defray the expenses of providing lunch, free of charge, for all students enrolled in public schools,” a draft of the bill said.
Another piece of legislation, House Bill 1494, would have school districts participating in the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to adopt policies where schools cannot deny or otherwise penalize students with an incurring meal debt. This would be limited to denying a meal or providing an alternate meal to students, disposing of or throw away food served to a child, identify or stigmatize a student as receiving a free, reduced-price or full-price meal, or limit a student’s participation in any school activities, graduation, field trips, etc., due to having an unpaid student meal balance.
