SF 4959
Introduction - 94th Legislature (2025 - 2026)
Posted on 04/08/2026 09:23 a.m.
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A bill for an act
relating to education finance; limiting state-paid free school lunches to families
with incomes at or below 500 percent of the federal poverty guidelines; establishing
school wellness and resiliency aid; increasing resources for school-linked behavioral
health grants; appropriating money; amending Minnesota Statutes 2024, section
124D.111, subdivisions 1, 1c, 1d, 4, by adding a subdivision; Minnesota Statutes
2025 Supplement, section 124D.111, subdivision 1a; proposing coding for new
law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 126C.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
Section 1.
Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 124D.111, subdivision 1, is amended to read:
Subdivision 1.
School meals policiesnew text begin ; definitionsnew text end .
(a) Each Minnesota participant in
the national school lunch program must adopt and post to its website, or the website of the
organization where the meal is served, a school meals policy.
(b) The policy must be in writing and clearly communicate student meal charges when
payment cannot be collected at the point of service. The policy must be reasonable and
well-defined and maintain the dignity of students by prohibiting lunch shaming or otherwise
ostracizing the student.
(c) The policy must address whether the participant uses a collections agency to collect
unpaid school meals debt.
(d) The policy must ensure that once a participant has placed a meal on a tray or otherwise
served the meal to a student, the meal may not be subsequently withdrawn from the student
by the cashier or other school official, whether or not the student has an outstanding meals
balance.
(e) The policy must ensure that a student who has been determined eligible for free and
reduced-price meals must always be served a reimbursable meal even if the student has an
outstanding debt.
(f) If a school contracts with a third party for its meal services, it must provide the vendor
with its school meals policy. Any contract between the school and a third-party provider
entered into or modified after July 1, 2021, must ensure that the third-party provider adheres
to the participant's school meals policy.
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(g) For purposes of this section:
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(1) "application for educational benefits" means an online or paper application appropriate
for determining a student's eligibility for school meals and other educational benefits. A
student may qualify for free, reduced-price, or enhanced meals based on the application for
educational benefits or through the direct certification process;
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(2) "enhanced student eligibility standard" means a student whose family income is
between 185 percent and 500 percent of the federal poverty guidelines for that school year;
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(3) "enhanced student meal" means a meal served to a student whose family income
meets the enhanced student eligibility standard;
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(4) "federal poverty guidelines" means the poverty guidelines by family size published
by the United States Department of Health and Human Services for that school year;
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(5) "free meal" means a meal served to a student whose family qualifies for a free meal
under the national school lunch program;
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(6) "full paid meal" means a meal served to a student whose family does not qualify for
a free or reduced-price meal under the national school lunch program; and
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(7) "reduced-price meal" means a meal served to a student whose family qualifies for a
reduced-price meal under the national school lunch program.
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new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end
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This section is effective for fiscal year 2027 and later.
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Sec. 2.
Minnesota Statutes 2025 Supplement, section 124D.111, subdivision 1a, is amended
to read:
Subd. 1a.
School lunch aid amounts.
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(a) The school lunch state aid for a participant in
the national school lunch program is the sum of the amounts in paragraphs (b) and (c) and
the amount calculated under subdivision 1d.
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deleted text begin (a)deleted text end new text begin (b)new text end For fiscal years 2025 through 2027, the state must pay participants in the national
school lunch program either:
(1) the amount of 12.5 cents for each full paid and free student lunch and 52.5 cents for
each reduced-price lunch served to students; or
(2) if the school participates in the free school meals program under subdivision 1c, the
sum of: (i) 12.5 cents for each full paid, reduced-price, and free student lunch; and (ii) the
amount specified in subdivision 1d.
deleted text begin (b)deleted text end new text begin (c)new text end For fiscal year 2028 and later, the state must pay participants in the national
school lunch program either:
(1) the amount of 6.25 cents for each full paid and free student lunch and 46.25 cents
for each reduced-price lunch served to students; or
(2) if the school participates in the free school meals program under subdivision 1c, the
sum of:
(i) 6.25 cents for each full paid, reduced-price, and free student lunch; and
(ii) the amount specified in subdivision 1d.
new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end
new text begin
This section is effective for fiscal year 2027 and later.
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Sec. 3.
Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 124D.111, subdivision 1c, is amended to read:
Subd. 1c.
deleted text begin Freedeleted text end new text begin Enhancednew text end school meals program.
(a) The deleted text begin freedeleted text end new text begin enhancednew text end school meals
program is created within the Department of Education.
(b) Each school that participates in the United States Department of Agriculture National
School Lunch program and has an Identified Student Percentage below the federal percentage
determined for all meals to be reimbursed at the free rate via the Community Eligibility
Provision must participate in the deleted text begin freedeleted text end new text begin enhancednew text end school meals program.
(c) Each school that participates in the United States Department of Agriculture National
School Lunch program and has an Identified Student Percentage at or above the federal
percentage determined for all meals to be reimbursed at the free rate must participate in the
federal Community Eligibility Provision in order to participate in the deleted text begin freedeleted text end new text begin enhancednew text end school
meals program.
(d) Each school that participates in the deleted text begin freedeleted text end new text begin enhancednew text end school meals program must:
(1) participate in the United States Department of Agriculture School Breakfast Program
and the United States Department of Agriculture National School Lunch Program; and
(2) provide to allnew text begin eligiblenew text end students at no cost up to two federally reimbursable meals per
school day, with a maximum of one free breakfast and one free lunch.
new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end
new text begin
This section is effective for fiscal year 2027 and later.
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Sec. 4.
Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 124D.111, subdivision 1d, is amended to read:
Subd. 1d.
deleted text begin Freedeleted text end new text begin Enhancednew text end school meals program aid amount.
The department must
provide to every Minnesota school participating in the deleted text begin freedeleted text end new text begin enhancednew text end school meals program
state funding for each school lunch and breakfast served to deleted text begin adeleted text end new text begin an eligiblenew text end student, with a
maximum of one breakfast and one lunch per new text begin eligible new text end student per school day. The state aid
equals the difference between the applicable federal reimbursement rate at that school site
for deleted text begin a freedeleted text end new text begin an enhancednew text end meal, as determined annually by the United States Department of
Agriculture, and the actual federal reimbursement received by the participating school for
the breakfast or lunch served to the student.
new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end
new text begin
This section is effective for fiscal year 2027 and later.
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Sec. 5.
Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 124D.111, is amended by adding a subdivision
to read:
new text begin Subd. 1e. new text end
new text begin Transfers from other funds. new text end
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A participant in the national school lunch
program may set a student meal eligibility standard higher than the enhanced student
eligibility standard and may transfer other school funds into the participant's school nutrition
account to pay for the costs of these meals.
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new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end
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This section is effective for fiscal year 2027 and later.
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Sec. 6.
Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 124D.111, subdivision 4, is amended to read:
Subd. 4.
No fees.
A participant that receives school lunch aid under this section must
make lunch available without charge and must not deny a school lunch to all new text begin eligible
new text end participating students who qualify for free deleted text begin ordeleted text end new text begin meals,new text end reduced-price meals,new text begin or enhanced
student mealsnew text end whether or not that student has an outstanding balance in the student's meals
account.
new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end
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This section is effective for fiscal year 2027 and later.
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Sec. 7.
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[126C.441] SCHOOL WELLNESS AND RESILIENCY AID.
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(a) For fiscal year 2027 and later, school wellness and resiliency aid for a school district
equals $....... times the district's adjusted pupil units for the school year.
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(b) School wellness and resiliency aid must be reserved and used to pay costs for:
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(1) licensed school counselors, licensed school psychologists, and licensed alcohol and
substance use disorder counselors to help provide early responses to problems;
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(2) on-site school mental health professionals; or
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(3) training school staff to identify and respond to mental health needs.
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Sec. 8. new text begin APPROPRIATION; SCHOOL-LINKED BEHAVIORAL HEALTH GRANTS.
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(a) $....... in fiscal year 2027 is appropriated from the general fund to the commissioner
of human services for school-linked behavioral health grants under Minnesota Statutes,
section 245.4901. This appropriation is in addition to any other amounts appropriated for
school-linked behavioral health grants.
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(b) The grant money may be used to identify and diagnose mental health conditions and
substance use disorders of students, to build the capacity of schools to meet the needs of
students with mental health and substance use disorders, or for other uses authorized under
Minnesota Statutes, section 245.4901.
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(c) The base for fiscal year 2028 is $........
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Sec. 9. new text begin APPROPRIATION; SCHOOL WELLNESS AND RESILIENCY AID.
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$....... in fiscal year 2027 is appropriated from the general fund to the commissioner of
education for school wellness and resiliency aid under Minnesota Statutes, section 126C.441.
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