House Committee Advances "Universal School Meal" Bill, Providing Breakfast And Lunch At No Cost To All Students

By Caroline Cummings, CBS Minnesota

January 12, 2023

A Minnesota House committee on Wednesday advanced a proposal that would provide breakfast and lunch at school free of charge for all students, making permanent a pandemic policy that advocates cheer as a solution to reducing child hunger.

"This is the way to make sure that kids are fed," Colleen Moriarty, executive director of Hunger Solutions Minnesota, told lawmakers. "We don't ask children to pay for a ride on the bus. We don't ask them to pay for a lot of things, and a meal should be one of the things that they can count on."

A COVID-era rule in place the last few years gave schools the flexibility to offer free meals to everyone. But those provisions have expired this school year, reinstating a system that determines students' eligibility for free or reduced-priced meals based on family income or if they are enrolled in other need-based programs.

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