If your children attend New Mexico schools, starting next school year you can decide whether to give them three meals a day or let the schools provide two of them.<\/p>\n
The choice is yours, if you can afford it. It\u2019s quite a shock how many parents apparently can\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Senate Bill 4, passed and signed, will provide breakfast and lunch at public expense to every public school student and optionally to some private and tribal school students.<\/p>\n
The motivation behind this bill, made explicit by sponsor Sen. Michael Padilla (D-Albuquerque), is that children should not just get their meals regardless of ability to pay. Children from low-income families should not have to be embarrassed by the bureaucratic process of qualifying for free meals.<\/p>\n
The law sets a few other ambitious goals.<\/p>\n
It requires that the food be healthful, and we don\u2019t yet know what that means. Standards will have to be adopted by the Public Education Department.<\/p>\n
It requires that meals be culturally relevant, and somebody is going to have to define that.<\/p>\n
It encourages, by means of incentives, the use of New Mexico grown or produced food products.<\/p>\n
It promotes elimination of food waste, first by requiring students in kindergarten through sixth grade to have up to 20 minutes of seated time to eat, so they have time to finish their meal, and second, by collecting unused food for use by food pantries, students, and other charitable organizations.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnused,\u201d let\u2019s assume, will mean food that was not served \u2013 not the leftovers on the plate.<\/p>\n
These additional goals are admirable, but they will add complication. I would not be surprised if they don\u2019t get done, at least not right away.<\/p>\n
A couple of questions jump out at us.<\/p>\n
First, do we really want the taxpayers to pay for meals for students whose parents can afford it?<\/p>\n
It is a legitimate question to argue.<\/p>\n
The Legislative Finance Committee staff, in the Fiscal Impact Report for the bill, said:<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 data shows that, proportionately, the majority of school meals served go to those who are in greatest need and qualify for federal reimbursement: 84 percent of school breakfasts served go to students qualifying for FRL (free or reduced-price lunch) and 81 percent of school lunches served go to students qualifying for FRL.<\/p>\n
\u201cThus, only 16 percent of school breakfasts \u2026 and only 19 percent of school lunches go to students who fully pay for meals, demonstrating free and reduced-price school lunches and breakfasts are reaching the students who need them most.\u201d<\/p>\n
In other words, existing programs were already serving those who needed the support. The usually less opinionated LFC analysts noted that the state could save some money by continuing to charge those who can afford it.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, we can sympathize with the desire to spare the feelings of low-income children. Perhaps, by not having to collect money from some students, the schools might eliminate an administrative headache. And there\u2019s no harm in giving higher-income parents a break.<\/p>\n
The other major question is a broader matter of community values.<\/p>\n
Under this program, a generation of children are having a basic human need \u2013 food — supplied not by their parents but by their school. What they are experiencing as children they may pass on to another generation when they themselves become parents. It\u2019s an uncomfortable prospect.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m angry that this is necessary. I\u2019m angry that we have an economy in which parents, for whatever reason, are unable to put breakfast on the table before sending their children to school.<\/p>\n
Feed the children, first, of course. But we can not be complacent about the economic and social forces that have brought us to this reality.<\/p>\n
Triple Spaced Again, \u00a9 New Mexico News Services 2023<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If your children attend New Mexico schools, starting next school year you can decide whether to give them three meals a day or let the schools provide two of them. The choice is yours, if you can afford it. It\u2019s … Continue reading