ST. PAUL – Legislation championed by State Representative Tony Jurgens (R-Cottage Grove) that would strengthen current lunch shaming laws in schools statewide is one step closer to becoming law.
Jurgens’ legislation was included in a K-12 Education Finance proposal that was agreed to by House and Senate leadership, passing 105-20 in the Minnesota House.
“I’m very pleased Republicans and Democrats recognized that allowing schools to embarrass students because their lunch balance is low is never acceptable,” Jurgens said.
Three years ago, the Stewartville School District made national headlines when students with negative school lunch balances had their meals tossed in the garbage. After speaking out against it, Jurgens heard from parents and others from statewide school districts with similar experiences – either the child's lunch was dumped because their lunch account lacked sufficient funding, or they weren’t allowed to eat.
“As I’ve said before, schools should be paid for meals they provide, but that transaction should be held between the district and the parents - not kids,” Jurgens concluded.