The Minnesota program, which takes effect July 1, is expected to cost about $200 million per year, according to state projections. In Colorado, a similar law allows schools to opt in to a state-funded free meals program. Minnesota is the third state in the nation to require schools to offer all students free breakfast and lunch, regardless of their family income, behind California and Maine. 'This is the assurance that no one falls through the cracks because a busy parent didn't fill out a form.' Starting this year, districts could also automatically add a student to the benefit rolls if their family qualified for Medicaid.īut Walz and other backers of providing universal free meals said those forms created unnecessary barriers. Until now, Minnesota law required parents to apply for free meals through a federal reimbursement program based on their income. The official signing at Webster Elementary in northeast Minneapolis - where pepperoni pizza and turkey salami sandwiches were on the lunch menu - marked a step toward the governor's proposal to 'make Minnesota the best state in the country to raise a child.'
Tim Walz signed a bill Friday that makes the change, while surrounded by children who got a firsthand lesson in how legislation becomes law. School meals will become free for every Minnesota public and charter school student.