By Laura Durenberger-Grunow - Boreal Community Media - October 30, 2024

It’s been over a year since Minnesota Governor Tim Walz officially passed his $72 billion ‘One Minnesota Budget,’ which comprised 12 bills that were signed into law. One law that took effect in the fall of 2023 includes the Minnesota Free School Meals Program, which provides free breakfast and lunch to students in any school participating in the federal National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs across the state. The program's goal is to help ensure no student goes hungry and to remove the stigma of receiving free/reduced lunch from the cafeteria. Additionally, the program was expected to help lower the cost of food for families and help reduce child poverty. All public schools, ​an additional 167 charter schools, and 163 private schools or residential childcare institutions participate in the program across the state. 

The program has been successful, with many schools, including Cook County, seeing an increase in students eating breakfast and lunch in the first year. ISD 166 food service staff and Superintendent Chris Lindholm said an additional 7,750 breakfasts (approximately +46%) and 5,450 lunches (approximately +14%) were served in 23-24 versus the same period in 22-23. Lindholm shared that a couple of factors came into play at the same time the MN Free School Meals Program was implemented, which could potentially impact numbers. First, school enrollment numbers dropped in 2020-2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and have slowly increased. As of this year, district enrollment has officially rebounded to pre-pandemic numbers. Second, free meals were offered to students during the 20-21 and 21-22 school years due to the pandemic. In 22-23, the school had to start charging for meals again, which saw a decrease in students served by almost half from the year prior. It was also “The first year of implementing direct certification for free meals. This resulted in our [free/reduced lunch] population jumping from around 35% to well over 50% - a more accurate representation of the true poverty level in Cook County,” he added. (Direct certification is a process for determining student eligibility for free or reduced-price meal benefits based on documentation obtained directly from the appropriate state or local agency or other authorized individual, according to the MN Department of Education.)

Statewide, Minnesota schools served more than 150 million meals in the program, saving families approximately $1,000 per student during the first year. According to the Minnesota Department of Education, the number of school lunches served statewide during the 2023-24 school year increased by 13.6 million meals compared to the same time period in 2022 – 2023, a 15 percent increase. The number of school breakfasts served to students last fall increased by 13.8 million meals compared to the previous school year, a 40 percent increase.

Critics of the program have stated that spending money on students whose families can afford the meals is a waste of taxpayer dollars, with some calling the program ”free lunch to all the wealthy families.” 

Advocates say that removing the stigma of free and reduced meals puts everyone on a level playing field in the cafeteria. Additionally, with rising food and other product costs, many families who don’t qualify for free or reduced lunch struggle to make ends meet and can’t afford to pay for meals. 

The debate over the program continued after it was announced in December 2023 that the cost of the program was increasing faster than expected—$81 million more over the next two years and $95 million in the two years after that, according to The Associated Press. Officials said that the higher projections for school meals are based on “really preliminary and partial data” and will continue to analyze the data and make adjustments as it comes in. Walz said that free meals are “an investment I will defend all day.”

According to the Minnesota Department of Health, approximately 11% of children and 9% of adults in Minnesota live below poverty. That number increases to 31% for American Indians or Alaskan Natives and 29% for Black or African Americans. As of 2021, 9% of residents in Cook County were living below poverty. In 2023, 11% of Cook County residents were food insecure. Statewide, 1 in 7 children don’t have access to regular nutrition.