State-paid free school lunches limitation to families with incomes at or below 500 percent of the federal poverty guidelines provision, school wellness and resiliency aid establishment, school-linked behavioral health grants expansion provision, and appropriation

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 policies
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; definitions
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.

(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served the meal to a student, the meal may not be subsequently withdrawn from the student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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EFFECTIVE DATE.

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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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(a)
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(b)
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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.

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(b)
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(c)
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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.

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EFFECTIVE DATE.

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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.

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Free
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Enhanced
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school meals program.

(a) The
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free
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enhanced
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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
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free
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enhanced
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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
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free
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enhanced
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school

meals program.

(d) Each school that participates in the
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free
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enhanced
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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 all
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eligible
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students at no cost up to two federally reimbursable meals per

school day, with a maximum of one free breakfast and one free lunch.

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EFFECTIVE DATE.

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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.

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Free
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Enhanced
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school meals program aid amount.

The department must

provide to every Minnesota school participating in the
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free
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enhanced
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school meals program

state funding for each school lunch and breakfast served to
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a
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an eligible
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student, with a

maximum of one breakfast and one lunch per
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eligible
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student per school day. The state aid

equals the difference between the applicable federal reimbursement rate at that school site

for
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a free
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an enhanced
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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.

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EFFECTIVE DATE.

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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:

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Subd. 1e.

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Transfers from other funds.

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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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EFFECTIVE DATE.

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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
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eligible
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participating students who qualify for free
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or
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meals,
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reduced-price meals,
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or enhanced

student meals
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whether or not that student has an outstanding balance in the student's meals

account.

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EFFECTIVE DATE.

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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.
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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.
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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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