The Senate Education Committee has deferred a bill that bans lunch shaming to the 41st Legislative Day.
Senate Bill 162 bars public and private schools participating in the national student lunch or school breakfast program from throwing out a meal if students do not have money to pay for them.
The measure also outlaws school officials from stamping a student's hand to remind parents or guardians of overdue fees.
Senator Troy Heinart of Mission sponsors Senate Bill 162. He says states like Minnesota and Texas have already taken steps to prohibit lunch shaming. Heinart says South Dakota needs to do the same.
"We saw last week that there were a couple instances right here in South Dakota. Where a child went through a line, received a lunch, got to the end of the line...was told that there was no money on their account. The tray was taken from them, thrown in the garbage, and they were given an alternative lunch. Different from all their peers, in front of all of their peers. To me, I cannot imagine what that child felt," Heinart says.
Opponents say they don't believe in lunch shaming, but argue accounts must be kept current. Gay Anderson is the child nutrition supervisor with the Brandon Valley School District. She's also president-elect of the National School Nutrition Association.
Anderson opposes Senate Bill 162. She cites a story from a fellow nutritionist in New Mexico, where there's an anti-lunch shaming law.
"This colleague, her district, used to have a deficit of 640 dollars in negative accounts and after the first...it wasn't even a full year, she had $6,000 in unpaid balances. So, from 640 dollars to 6,000. The school nutrition fund cannot write off that debt. What it is, is we have a separate budget from, obviously the general fund. And if we have unpaid debt at the end of the year, guess where we going to? Those long-wanted, hard dollars for education, Anderson says."
Anderson says her district also has a protocol where classroom teachers tell students to stop by the nutrition office to pick up a lunch that's housed in a bag many students normally use.
Heinart says one in six children in South Dakota deal with food insecurity, and children should not be bullied due to how much money their family makes. Anderson says free or reduced lunch students are never denied a meal, nor do they receive an alternative.
After more than 50 minutes of testimony and discussion, Senate Education votes 4-3 to table the measure.