Expansion of reduced price school meals heads to budget committee

Rep. Tyler Tordsen, R-Sioux Falls, speaks on the state House floor on Jan. 16, 2024. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

A bill that would expand the number of students eligible for reduced price meals is headed to a legislative budget committee for further consideration.

The South Dakota House Education Committee endorsed the bill 8-6 on Wednesday.

Currently, students from families making 130% to 185% of the federal poverty level qualify for federally funded reduced price meals, and students from families making less than that qualify for free meals. The bill would raise eligibility for reduced price meals to 209% of the federal poverty level and use state funds to pay the additional costs.

Bureau of Finance and Management Commissioner Jim Terwilliger estimates the annual cost to be between $1 million and $1.5 million.

Rep. Tyler Tordsen, R-Sioux Falls, introduced the bill.

“I think this is a small price for a very big impact,” Tordsen said.

State lawmakers reject expansion of free school meals

He also supported a separate school lunch bill that failed earlier this legislative session. That bill would have expanded free school meals.

The new bill is supported by the American Heart Association and Feeding South Dakota. Former Democratic state representative Deb Fischer-Clemens lobbies on those entities’ behalf. She said over 13% of South Dakota children suffer food insecurity, which increases the odds of multiple chronic health conditions, increasing health care costs.

Additionally, Fischer-Clemens said the state has relatively low test scores, and she is “concerned that it may be because these kids are food insecure.”

Terwilliger said he is concerned about going “a step above and beyond a federal program.”

“This is a very bad precedent,” Terwilliger said.

Tordsen replied, “That doesn’t scare me, going above and beyond for our kids.”

In response to concerns about using state money, Rep. Scott Odenbach, R-Spearfish, introduced an amendment . It would use the governor’s Future Fund to pay for the expanded lunch program.

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The Future Fund gets its money from South Dakota employers, whose payments to the fund are tied to payroll taxes for unemployment benefits. Unlike other funds administered by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development , Future Fund expenses don’t have to go through a board of citizen appointees for vetting or approval. Governor Kristi Noem spent over $30 million from the fund last year on everything from a rodeo in Sioux Falls to her “Freedom Works Here” workforce recruitment campaign.

“We spend a lot of money from the Future Fund on a lot of fat cats,” Odenbach said. “So, let’s fatten up the kids with a little bit of that money.”

Terwilliger replied, “I don’t think that would be a proper use of those funds.”

The amendment failed 4-10.

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