Port: The Measure 2 debate has been too ideological

Forum News Service file photo Opinion by Rob Port October 27, 2026 at 11:33 AM Listen Comments Share Share this article Opinion Opinion Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the interpretation of facts and data. The Trust Project What is this? MINOT — I'm voting against Measure 2 — the constitutional amendment about school meals — because I don't think that sort of thing belongs in the state constitution. That's also why I'm voting for Measure 1, which would raise the threshold for approving new amendments to the state constitution to 60% of the vote. Constitutional law should be distinct from statutory law, both in what it covers and how it's made. ADVERTISEMENT But some of the other arguments about Measure 2 have been a bit ludicrous. For one, supporters of the measure keep referring to it as providing "free" school meals. This is not factual. "There is no such thing as a free lunch," as the saying goes. Someone has to pay. The debate over Measure 2 is not whether to provide "free" meals. It's a question of how we pay for them. Currently the lunch program is subsidized by state and federal tax dollars, with the balance made up with user fees from which there are exemptions for families falling below certain income levels. MORE FROM ROB PORT Port: North Dakota mandated school meals but didn't fund them. It's time to pay the bill. 13h ago Port: Ballot error impacting Surrey school bond worse than first reported 1d ago Port: North Dakota Republican Party ends 2026 election cycle in embarrassing fashion 1d ago If Measure 2 passes, those user fees would be replaced by an ongoing state appropriation. I wish Measure 2 would be more honest about this reality. Which brings me to my second gripe about the Measure 2 debate. We're treating it like it's some grand philosophical argument over the role of the government, and it's really not. "The government shouldn't feed your kids," some opponents say, but the government is already feeding the kids, and has been for a long time. Again, the school lunch program was created in 1946 when President Harry Truman signed the National School Lunch Act into law. Even before that, many school districts in the various states were already providing lunches and even breakfasts in public schools. And the public schools themselves have been around for a long, long time. In 1852, Massachusetts passed the nation's first compulsory education law; in 1918, Mississippi became the last state to pass a similar law. The government provides public schools in the same way it provides roads and highways and bridges, and meals have long been a part of that service. The debate over Measure 2 isn't about whether the government should provide education, or should provide meals. Those debates have long been over. The Measure 2 debate is about how those meals in North Dakota should be paid for. The "government shouldn't feed your kids" crowd would have you believe that Measure 2 is some sharp left turn toward socialism, but that's absurd, and the absurdity becomes more clear when you think about this debate in the context of other services the government provides. ADVERTISEMENT We pay for roads in a variety of ways. There are fuel taxes, of course, and trust funds and general fund appropriations. There are also user fees. Things like toll bridges or turnpikes charge the people who use them directly. Are non-turnpike roads socialism? Are bridges that don't require a fee to cross some Marxist plot to make Americans dependent on the government? Please. Let's be serious. Certainly, it's fair to argue that user fees for lunches are the preferable policy, but we shouldn't treat the idea of covering those fees with a general taxpayer appropriation — as a way to deliver some direct cost relief to families with school-age kids — as some crossing of an ideological Rubicon. It isn't that. A long time ago we decided, as a country, that an education is something Americans have a right to. In fact, that right is enshrined in North Dakota law. Article VIII, Section 2 states, "The legislative assembly shall provide for a uniform system of free public schools throughout the state." Statutory law, meanwhile, requires children to attend these public schools, or a private school, or be homeschooled to standards created by the state. ADVERTISEMENT These are not controversial ideas. Nor is the idea that the state will provide meals for the kids while they're in school. All Measure 2 would do is end the user fee for those meals. Again, I can't vote for it because that sort of law does not belong in our state constitution, but as a practical matter of policy, it's no more controversial than a debate over whether to pay for a road through fuel taxes or a toll. Comments Share Share this article Opinion Opinion Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the interpretation of facts and data. The Trust Project What is this? Tags Tags GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS NORTH DAKOTA PLAIN TALK INFORUM BISMARCK PLAIN TALK COLUMN EDUCATION ELECTION 2026 Opinion by Rob Port Rob Port is a news reporter, columnist, and podcast host for the Forum News Service with an extensive background in investigations and public records. He covers politics and government in North Dakota and the upper Midwest. Reach him at [email protected]. Click here to subscribe to his Plain Talk podcast. 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