Ballot Measure Effort Seeks to Provide Free School Meals to North Dakota Students

(Dan Koeck/For the North Dakota Monitor)

(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.