House Bill 1082, Representative Kadyn Wittman’s (D-15/Sioux Falls) hard-fought campaign to make school meals free for kids who already qualify for the reduced price, still has to clear committee before reaching the Senate floor. Senate Education approved HB 1082 on Monday on a 5–2 vote Monday, but Senate President Pro Tempore Chris Karr (R-11/Sioux Falls) delayed it Tuesday by referring it to Senate Appropriations, which will meet this morning to review the LRC’s fiscal note.and discuss whether they can find $592,517 in the Capitol couch cushions.
The stubborn and heartless nays in Senate Education were public-education hater Sen. Sue Peterson (R-13/Sioux Falls) and rookie Sen. Lauren Nelson (R-18/Yankton). The latter tied passing the buck to local charity:
Sen. Lauren Nelson, R-Yankton, cast one of the two votes against the bill. She said community partners can step in to cover unpaid balances on reduced price-school meals.
“Get out there and find those stakeholders in your community who have the resources to provide the funding to do this,” Nelson said [Meghan O’Brien, “Reduced-Price School Meal Funding Heads to South Dakota Senate,” South Dakota Searchlight, 2026.03.03].
Senator Nelson, Kadyn Wittman has gotten out there and found the stakeholders: hundreds of thousands of South Dakotans who pay over a hundred million dollars in sales tax on their food, an unusual and regressive tax you and your party refuse to repeal, and who now are saying, through Rep. Wittman and majorities of two committees and the House, “Could we at least spend less than a penny of each of those food-tax dollars on food for low-income kids?”
We are all stakeholders in well-fed students. We as a state have the funding to cover the remaining cost of reduced-price school meals. Appropriators, say the word. Senate, put food-tax dollars to good use and pass HB 1082.