House Education Committee Hears Bill To Prevent Lunch Shaming

(Fargo, ND) — The House Education Committee is considering a bill that would change school meal policies. The measure would prevent schools from denying a meal or serving an alternative meal to students with unpaid meal balances or without funds to buy a meal. Schools would also be prohibited from identifying or stigmatizing students based on how their meals are paid for, including the use of tokens, stickers, stamps, or published meal debt lists. The bill would also not allow schools to limit a student’s participation in school and extra-curricular activities, graduation ceremonies, and field trips, or limite access to materials and technology based on lunch debt.