(KNOX) –Grand Forks Public Schools administrators and School Board members are concerned about the district’s budget amid preliminary enrollment data and a free school lunch measure .
Business Manager Ryan Gatzke says the district won’t miss the payroll period, but the budget isn’t necessarily able to deal with multi million dollar revenue decreases.
Attendance data from the first two days of the 2026-2027 school year shows that there’s an estimated 70 to 100 fewer students at Grand Forks Public Schools than were projected.
For school lunches, state residents will vote on a ballot measure in November that looks to amend the North Dakota Constitution and require every school district to provide free lunch and breakfast for all students. State lawmakers will need to fund a mandate or school districts would need to pay the current funding levels.
70 to 100 less students might mean the district could lose up to $1.1 million in a state aid payment. The base per pupil payment went up by two and a half percent from the 2025-26 school year to the 2026-2027 year.
The North Dakota Department of Public Instruction expects the free school lunch meals would cost up to $134 million statewide every biennium. North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong says he will vote against the proposal, even though a survey that was done by his office showed that 65 percent support the free lunch measure.
School Board President JoNell Bakke says the lunch measure would result in an extra $3 million in expenses for the district.
Bakke says that every kid doesn’t need a free lunch, but supports the idea because it is part of “our obligation as a society.”
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