Minnesota governor Mark Dayton wants to do something about children being denied school lunch because they cannot pay for it.
He has declared “No child in Minnesota should be denied a healthy lunch. We cannot expect our students to succeed on an empty stomach. I look forward to working with the Legislature to make this issue a priority in the upcoming legislative session.”
Presently, 15 percent of the Minnesota school districts offer no lunch at all to students who have a zero balance on their lunch accounts. A little over half of the districts offer a cheese or peanut butter sandwich. In his statement, Dayton says he will include $3.5 million in his budget request in order to guarantee all Minnesota students receive a hot lunch. In response to Dayton’s claims, some districts have changed their policies, but are rarely enforced.
Barb Olson, an Osseo School District spokesperson says when a student has no money, they are given a sandwich, fruit and milk in place of a hot lunch for a maximum of three days.