BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) – Every K-12 student has the legal right to receive a lunch at school in North Dakota without any stigma or shaming. But students and families who can’t afford to pay can still have long-term consequences, and some students may choose to go hungry to avoid them.
There are more than two dozen school districts that reported referring parents to debt collection agencies for unpaid lunch debt, according to a state survey. At least one district withholds transcripts from students who haven’t paid off their account balance.
Both types of policies are legal in North Dakota.
State law requires school districts to provide a meal to any student who requests one even if they lack the funds to pay for it. Legislation passed in 2023 known as the anti-lunch shaming bill prohibits schools from identifying or stigmatizing students for unpaid meal debts, and bans certain consequences such as limiting participating in graduation or other school activities.
Michelle Wagner, legislative chair for the North Dakota School Nutrition Association, said the 2023 law did not solve the problem.
“I think the legislators had good intentions when they developed that anti-lunch shaming bill. But then there’s like no funding to help support it. So it’s really put us as districts and families in a tough situation,” said Wagner, who is also the child nutrition program director for Bismarck Public Schools.
Bismarck is among school districts that refer parents to debt collections for unpaid meal account balances. Wagner said it is used as a last resort.
Lynelle Johnson, director of the Office of Child Nutrition and Food Distribution for the Department of Public Instruction, said lawmakers did not ban the practice in the 2023 law.
“They felt like that was one last thing they could do,” Johnson said.
Being referred to debt collections can have significant financial consequences. The existence of the debt can be placed on a person’s credit report and lower their credit score. It can stay on a credit report for up to seven years from the date of the debt, even if it is paid off, according to credit agencies Experian and TransUnion.
“That will stay on because it shows your history on your ability to pay your debt,” said Lise Kruse, commissioner of the Department of Financial Institutions, which regulates collection agencies in North Dakota.
That note on a credit report can make it more difficult for a person to get approved for a loan from a bank, among other things.
“The credit score isn’t everything when they make a decision, but it definitely helps to have clean credit,” Kruse said.
School districts statewide reported student meal debt of about $2 million at the end of the 2025-26 school year, Johnson reported to lawmakers last month. That does not include donations of nearly $46,000 that helped some districts pay down their debt, or transfers of nearly $500,000 from districts’ general fund budgets to reduce the debt.
Sen. Scott Meyer, R-Grand Forks, said it is up to each school district to determine what the appropriate penalty for an unpaid meal account is. He said he doesn’t have a problem with debt collection referrals because the likely alternative is taxpayers will bear the cost, either through the state or an increase in property taxes.
“If you’re not paying it, it’s going to get paid some way, and now you’re possibly putting it on the backs of your neighbors,” Meyer said.
Transcript trouble
Collection agencies are not the only way school districts have been trying to recoup unpaid meal debts accrued by students. The Elgin New Leipzig School District, in southwest North Dakota, will withhold transcripts from college applications or when a student wishes to volunteer for the military.
“When they request a transcript, we won’t release one if they have an outstanding bill from lunch, and that usually gets people’s attention enough that they take care of it,” said Sherlock Hirning, superintendent of Elgin New Leipzig in Grant County.
Hirning said the tactic has been successful in helping the district collect outstanding meal debt, and added that if a student requests a transcript a second time, the district would relent.
“I would say that those are still very shaming tactics,” said Amy Jacobson, a member of the Together for School Meals coalition. “That’s terrible.”
Elgin is in compliance with North Dakota’s anti-lunch shaming law. But there could be long-term consequences of withholding a transcript if the student or family is unable to pay the debt.
It’s unclear how many school districts use similar strategies. Elgin New Leipzig was one of three school districts that indicated transcripts or permanent records are affected by meal debt in a February survey by the state. The survey did not include a space for a district to elaborate on the details of the policy.
The other public school respondent was Garrison Public Schools. But Superintendent Nick Klemisch said that was likely an error, and he is not aware of any policy that would withhold transcripts, or place information about a meal debt on a transcript or permanent record.
Klemisch said the district rarely has issues with unpaid meal debts, is successful in fundraising private donations to cover debt that isn’t paid off and is often willing to work with parents on payment plans.
“We’ve continued to allow families to charge, even if their balances are negative or in the hole,” Klemisch said. He said he can only recall one family in 12 years that refused to pay for meals entirely.
The survey was not exhaustive, as it included responses from 79 of the 193 school districts in the state that participate in the National School Lunch Program.
Stigma is hard to measure
It’s difficult to know whether every student who wants a lunch actually ends up being fed at school, advocates of free school meals say.
Johnson said it can be true that all students have the opportunity to receive a school lunch while many do not take advantage of that option because they or their families do not want to accumulate debt.
“Students know that they have a large negative balance, or they don’t have money, and they know that they will accumulate debt if they take the meal, even though they can’t be refused it,” Johnson said.
She and others have heard anecdotes about students who choose not to go through the lunch line to avoid building up debt, who will visit the restroom during lunch to avoid the stigma, or older students who leave school premises so nobody knows their family can’t afford to pay for lunch.
Meyer said there needs to be a conversation in the Legislature about the lack of funding provided in the 2023 bill, which mandates schools provide a meal to students who request one even if they have a negative account balance.
But the lawmaker emphasized that students have access to meals in school, regardless of their account status, if they want it. It’s up to the kid if they choose to take advantage of that meal option or not.
“We can’t force them to eat. But we do have to have access to lunch,” Meyer said. “That’s the important thing here.”
Some schools in North Dakota already provide free lunch and breakfast to all students through the Community Eligibility Provision program, because more than one-fourth of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch from the federal government.
Turtle Mountain Community School, also known as Belcourt School District, is one. Earl Demery, one of the district’s administrators, said it has a positive impact on students’ academic performance because a kid thinks better and works harder when they are well fed.
Wagner said there are six elementary schools and one alternative high school in Bismarck that qualify for the Community Eligibility Provision program. Staff have observed significant positive impacts in recent years as a result, including better student effort during the day and fewer visits to the nurse for stomach aches, likely caused by hunger, in the morning.
“Feeding kids is the right thing,” said Wagner, one of the sponsors of a ballot measure to provide free school meals. “If families or parents are struggling financially, should that come back to the student? Probably not. It’s not fair to that student. I think it puts a lot of burden on that student, knowing that their family is struggling to pay that.”
Sen. Paul Thomas, R-Velva, said he has heard anecdotes of his own about students showing up to school hungry on Monday mornings because they didn’t have enough to eat at home over the weekend. He said he views that scenario, where a parent isn’t providing sufficient food at home, to be of greater concern and needs to be addressed.
“To me, that’s a big concern. We need to take care of our youth,” Thomas said.
Policy solutions
A coalition of school meals advocates is asking voters to approve an amendment to North Dakota’s constitution on the general election ballot next week that would guarantee all K-12 students receive a free breakfast and lunch, and require the state to reimburse schools.
Sen. Chuck Walen, R-New Town, is one of the lawmakers who oppose the measure. He prefers a legislative solution.
But he also condemned the practice of referring parents to collection agencies for unpaid meal debt. And while he had heard of that happening, Walen said he was unaware transcripts were being withheld. The lawmaker said he would support strengthening the anti-shaming law to put a stop to both tactics.
“Any student is supposed to get their meal, period, without any stigma attached to it,” Walen said. “Your student record shouldn’t be held because that’s a student stigma in my mind.”
Walen said if Measure 2 fails, he plans to introduce legislation requiring the state to pay off all outstanding meal debt once a year. He said the more targeted approach would achieve a similar outcome and represent a far smaller cost to the state.
Thomas is another opponent of Measure 2 who favors similar legislation.
“That debt is borne by the state, not by the student, not by the parent, not by the taxpayers of that individual school district,” Thomas said. “The state would take care of those balances.”
Thomas said he plans to introduce legislation in 2027 that would refocus the debate on school meals regardless of whether Measure 2 passes. He wants to take a closer look at students who aren’t receiving enough to eat at home and looking at “meal enhancements,” including the option for larger portion sizes and more nutritious meals, when they are in school.
“That’s where our resources need to be allocated to in taking care of those students and making sure our youth in this state are receiving good, nutritious meals,” Thomas said.
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