PIERRE, S.D.(SDBA) – Concerns over future funding commitments and the existence of federal programs led House lawmakers to reject a proposal for expanding access to free lunches in South Dakota’s public schools.

The bipartisan proposal, carried by Democrat Kadyn Wittman of Sioux Falls, was defeated by one vote in the House Education Committee, with lawmakers choosing to reject the legislation rather than subject it to further scrutiny in the chamber’s Appropriation Committee.

The proposed legislation aimed to provide free lunches to those currently eligible for reduced ones due to household incomes between $25,636 and $36,482, or up to 185% above the federal poverty line.

Wittman emphasized the importance of well-nourished children for educational success and better health outcomes.

“I can’t think of anything more core to education than children having fully developed brains and being able to focus in their schools,” Wittman said. “If we want South Dakota to pull ahead in terms of test scores, absenteeism rates, and having better health outcomes for our kids, I can’t think of a better investment.”

The bill’s lone opposition came from Bureau of Finance and Management Commissioner Jim Terwilliger, who raised fiscal concerns about the bill’s nearly $600k cost.

“If we could all vote with our hearts, I know that we would vote to support feeding our children,” Terwilliger said. “But there is a cost to these programs at the end of the day, we have all heard the saying ‘there is no free lunch.’ Someone still has to pay.”

The 2024 version of the bill was a massively scaled back version of a 2023 bill that Wittman brought – which only received one vote in the same committee. If passed, that bill would have given free school lunches to every South Dakota student, regardless of income.

Freshman lawmaker Tim Reisch expressed concerns about allotting state money to a place where federal dollars are already flowing.

“I don’t think it’s the state’s obligation to shore up something that the federal government already has a place in,” said freshman Rep. Tim Reisch. “We got 34 trillion dollars in federal debt right now, that’s a bigger burden to the youth of this nation probably than the shortcomings in the meal program.”

Wittman told South Dakota Broadcasters Association after the hearing that she does not intend to “smoke out” her bill despite its one vote margin. That is a legislative maneuver that would have allowed the bill to potentially be debated on the floor, despite its defeat in committee.  Rather, the Sioux Falls lawmaker says that she intends to keep the conversation on free lunches going in future legislative sessions.