Senate Floor Session: SF123 Passes on March 14, 2023

After passing the House Floor in late February, Sen. Gustafson’s bill (SF123), proposing free school lunch and breakfast provided for all K-12 students in Minnesota, was heard on the Senate floor on Tuesday, March 14, 2023.

A robust hearing, which included strong opposition from a handful of senators, one even claiming hunger isn’t an issue in our state, lasted two hours. The bill passed along party lines, with four Republicans joining Democrats to send SF123 to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law.

Sen. Heather Gustafson (36, DFL) is the lead author of this bill. Additional bill authors include: Kunesh (39, DFL), Maye Quade (56, DFL), Mann (50, DFL), Duckworth (57, R)

Quotes from the Senate floor session

“Being hungry makes learning almost impossible. There’s no worksheet or assignment, test or project, that will matter to a student who hasn’t had anything to eat. There’s not a reading program or a math strategy that will improve scores if a student doesn’t know where their next meal is coming from.” – Sen. Gustafson

“As a former teacher, I am proud to author this bill. By providing free meals, we can ensure that all students have the necessary fuel to succeed in school.” – Sen. Gustafson

“There are a lot of pressures on a lot of families that this will take a load off of.” – Sen. Abeler

“This need is overwhelming. While we sit here and debate today…there are tens of thousands of kids in school right now in MN with grumbling stomachs who are trying to learn while they are hungry.” – Sen. Mitchell

“We need to take care of our children. We need to get this passed. We need to set up our children for success, and that means them having full bellies and being in an environment where they can learn.” – Sen. Mitchell

“Today we have an opportunity to step up as a state so that it’s not on those individual nutrition staff, it’s not on our teachers, it’s not on our individual school districts, it’s on us.” – Sen. Oumou Verbeten