North Dakota
Our opinion: The time has come for free school meals for all in North Dakota
A poll by the North Dakota News Cooperative shows 82% of respondents in favor of providing free school meals to all children. Of those, 65% are “strongly in favor.”
With that kind of support, perhaps North Dakota’s Legislature will this year move forward with a plan to provide free lunches for all school children in the state, ensuring healthy and ample meals for all while ridding school lunchrooms of the terrible stigma that attaches itself to those children whose families struggle or refuse to make payments for the meals their children eat.
Minnesota has provided a roadmap. In 2023, Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill that calls for free breakfasts and lunches at schools across the state for all children, regardless of family income and ability to pay. It came as the state was seeing historically high demand at food shelves, according to a report by Minnesota Public Radio. The news agency quoted Leah Gardner, of Hunger Solutions Minnesota, who said “we are still seeing tremendous food insecurity across the state” as food prices continue to rise.
According to Forum News Service reporting last month, North Dakota food banks also are seeing high participation in food aid services. In 2023, for instance, more than 156,000 North Dakotans relied on the Great Plains Food Bank to supplement their nutrition.
Free meals improve the nutrition of all students. North Dakota United – which represents educators throughout the state – points to research that shows students who participate in free food programs have better attendance, behavior, academic performance and achievement.
A free-for-all-students program also changes how students view each other in the lunchroom. For instance, when free meals were offered in Minnesota during the COVID-19 pandemic, “it made it feel like an equal playing field,” Gardner told MPR. “It made all the stigma go away.”
In North Dakota, progress was made in 2023. Lawmakers approved legislation that pays for meals for students of low-income parents and guardians. The final bill was a skeleton of its original form, however. It had been introduced as a measure to provide free meals for all students.
Indeed, free lunches come with a cost. In North Dakota, the program to provide meals for low-income students is some $6 million per biennium. And in more densely populated Minnesota, the free-for-all-students approach is proving more costly than anticipated; it was budgeted at $400 million over two years, but it looks like it’ll be $80 million more than that.
For some lawmakers, the cost for the state is worth it, since it bolsters school learning and attendance while reducing costs for families. Sen. Zac Ista, D-Grand Forks, is among them.
“The top issue heading into the 2025 legislative session is lowering the cost of living. Across North Dakota, families continue to feel the pinch of high costs for essentials like food, child care and housing. As state policymakers, we must continue to make strategic investments and policy choices to bring down these costs,” Ista said. “To tackle food costs, one solution is to provide no-cost school meals for all K-12 students in the state, providing a substantial cost savings for families with schoolchildren and also leading to better educational and behavioral outcomes in classrooms.”
Ista isn’t alone, evidenced by the North Dakota News Cooperative poll and news that 30 organizations in the state are coming together to support a free-meal program. Called “Together for School Meals,” the coalition plans to recommend $140 million in state funding over the coming biennium to reimburse schools for the costs of free meals for all students.
North Dakota can afford this, and making the meals free for all is fair for everybody. Lawmakers should make it happen in 2025.
Herald editorials are written under the byline “Herald editorial board,” since they sometimes include the thoughts, opinions or written input of multiple authors. Editorials generally reflect the opinion of a newspaper’s publisher.
Greg Power, fisheries division chief with the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, shares information about the new 2026-2028 Fishing Guide and a few new regulations starting April 1, 2026.
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SIOUX FALLS — Ali Stephens had 17 points and 13 rebounds and 8th-seeded Omaha defeated 9th-seeded North Dakota 49-39 in the first round of the Summit League women’s tournament.
The Fighting Hawks had a tough time putting the ball in the hoop all night long, scoring just three points in the first quarter and having only marginally better luck from there.
UND (7-24) shot just 23.5 percent from the floor (12-for-51) and made 1-of-20 shots from outside the arc. Walker Demers and Mackenzie Hughes had 10 points each to lead the Hawks, with Demers adding eight rebounds.
Matt Zimmer/Sioux Falls Live
Regan Juenemann had 10 points and five rebounds for the Mavericks while Avril Smith had seven points and 16 rebounds and Sarai Estupinan eight points, five assists and three rebounds. Omaha (6-26) shot the ball slightly better than the Hawks, going 16-of-53 from the field (30 percent) and 8-of-23 (35 percent) on 3-pointers.
With the win, the Mavs earn a date with top-seed North Dakota State on Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
The Bison won both regular season matchups by more than 50 points.
Matt Zimmer/Sioux Falls Live
Oral Roberts 84, Kansas City 62 — Don’t look now but the team that started the conference season 0-10 and at one point lost 15 of 16 games might be the hottest in the Summit League.
Oral Roberts picked up their fourth straight victory on Wednesday night in the conference tournament opener, routing Kansas City at the Premier Center in the 8/9 “play-in” game.
Ty Harper had 22 points to lead the Golden Eagles (10-22), who took a 44-21 lead by halftime and never looked back. ORU shot 50 percent from the floor and made 13-of-27 3-pointers while the Kangaroos shot just 34 percent and made 6-of-24 from deep. Martins Kilups had 17 points for the Eagles and Connor Dow added 14.
Jayson Petty had 14 points to lead the Kagaroos, who finish the season 4-27. It was their final game under coach Marvin Menzies, whom the school announced earlier this season would not return next year.
With the win ORU advances to face top-seed North Dakota State on Thursday at 6 p.m.
The Golden Eagles lost to NDSU 86-58 in Tulsa on Jan. 24 but they took the Bison to overtime in Fargo on Jan. 3 in a 79-77 loss.
Matt Zimmer is a Sioux Falls native and longtime sports writer. He graduated from Washington High School where he played football, legion baseball and developed his lifelong love of the Minnesota Twins and Vikings. After graduating from St. Cloud State University, he returned to Sioux Falls, and began a long career in amateur baseball and sports reporting. Email Matt at mzimmer@siouxfallslive.com.
North Dakota
The North Dakota Attorney General issued an opinion to the ND State Auditor – North Dakota Attorney General
04 Mar The North Dakota Attorney General issued an opinion to the ND State Auditor
in Opinions
March 4, 2026
Media Contact: Suzie Weigel, 701.328.2210
BISMARCK, ND – It is the opinion that federal law does not prevent the state from auditing P&A and even though P&A possesses confidential records, N.D.C.C. § 54-10-22.1 and 42 C.F.R. § 51.45(c) authorize the state auditor and the employees of the auditor’s office, to review the records without detriment to P &A.
Also, whether Rule 1.6 of the North Dakota Rules of Professional Conduct for licensed attorneys prohibits P&A from disclosing to the State Auditor the contents of a client file for the purpose of conducting a non-financial performance audit under N.D.C.C. ch. 54-10 when the requested file includes information about individuals and businesses in the private sector who chose to contact P &A.
This issue was already addressed in a 1995 opinion of this office regarding P&A. The 1995 opinion highlighted that P&A has authority to contract with private attorneys to represent private individuals. 17 During that performance audit, auditors asked to see billings from the contracted attorneys. 18 P&A redacted the names of the individuals represented by the contract attorneys under the rules for attorney-client privilege or attorney-client confidentiality. 19 The names of individuals seeking services of P&A are protected under N.D.C.C. § 25-01.3. The opinion stated:
Thus, P&A’s records which indicate to whom its services were provided are available to the State Auditor for performance audit purposes. The State Auditor has
been given access by P&A to its records other than the attorney’s billings. Therefore, the State Auditor already has access to the names of the persons to whom P&A
provides services. State law requires that the State Auditor and his employees must keep such information confidential.
Here, P&A has not identified a specific record. Given that, I rely on the past opinions declaring that records made confidential by N.D.C.C. § 25-01.3-10 are available under N.D.C.C. § 54-10-22 to the State Auditor and the Auditor’s employees for audit purposes.
Link to opinion 2026-L-01
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