As campaign delivers 57,229 petition signatures to Secretary of State, the Fairness Project applauds voters’ opportunity to advance important policy for working families
Bismarck, ND – Today, Together for School Meals submitted 57,229 petition signatures to the North Dakota Secretary of State to put their measure guaranteeing universal school meals on the ballot this fall.
“With 57,229 signatures delivered to the Secretary of State, it’s clear that North Dakotans are energized to guarantee meals to school children across the state,” said Kelly Hall, Executive Director of the Fairness Project. “We’re proud to support grassroots campaigns that are fighting to better the lives of working families in real, material ways.”
The proposed ballot measure would guarantee that every enrolled K-12 student in North Dakota would have access to one breakfast and one lunch every school day, at no cost to students, their parents, or guardians. The measure would leave the sources of school meal funding to the discretion of the legislature. However, it would direct lawmakers to use the state’s Legacy Fund earnings if other sources prove insufficient.
“We’re excited to see that citizens in North Dakota are tackling an urgent need with a commonsense solution,” began Hall. “In a nation so rich in food, there’s simply no reason any child should face the school day hungry,” she continued. “States across the nation should be looking to Bismarck today to see how they too can ensure that no child goes to school without the food they need.”
Since its founding, the Fairness Project has supported state and local ballot measure campaigns working on economic issues that directly affect working people and their families, from raising the minimum wage to ensuring paid sick leave to ending income-based discrimination in housing and protecting access to abortion care. Between the 2016 and 2024 cycles, the Fairness Project backed over 10 campaigns to raise the minimum wage, many of them in states with conservative legislative majorities adverse to raising their state’s minimum wage. In 2024, the organization famously became the largest backer of abortion rights ballot measure campaigns, donating more than $30 million and protecting or restoring abortion rights in several states. In the 2026 cycle, the Fairness Project is now also backing campaigns to defend democracy, including efforts to maintain non-partisan state courts, defend state constitutions from rewrites by corporate interests, create fair congressional districts, and uphold the ballot measure process.
As for the North Dakota campaign, there remain a few more steps before the guarantee of school meals becomes the law of the land. Most immediately, the Secretary of State will need to review and verify the petition signatures submitted today. After the petition is certified, the campaign will begin the next phase of the campaign, urging citizens across the state to vote in favor of universal school meals when they receive their ballots in November.