
All Students in New Mexico to Receive Complimentary Meals
- foodfightadmin
- March 29, 2023
- Nutrition, State
- ads pages
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Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico has signed legislation that guarantees free school meals for all students, regardless of their family income. The move comes as New Mexico, along with several other states, seeks to address the gaps left by expired federal pandemic-era benefit programs and alleviate the strain on family budgets caused by rising food prices.
The bill successfully passed through the state Legislature during the recent 60-day session, with lawmakers allocating over $22 million in the state budget to support the program. Additional funds will be utilized to improve school kitchens, enabling the preparation of healthier meals. Governor Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, expressed her support for the initiative, stating that investing in feeding children today will yield long-term benefits for future generations of healthier New Mexicans. She celebrated the bill’s signing alongside numerous elementary school students.
New Mexico is not alone in pursuing universal free school meals. California and Maine have already made such programs permanent, and legislation to do the same is progressing in Vermont. Nevada has also allocated $75 million to extend free school meals for the current academic year. In Colorado, voters approved a ballot measure last fall granting school districts the opportunity to provide free lunches.
Nationally, the volume of unpaid school meal debt has been increasing, underscoring the ongoing need to offer free meals to ensure students can focus on their education. A recent report from the Food Research & Action Center indicated that participation in school breakfast and lunch programs during the last school year exceeded pre-pandemic levels.
In New Mexico, approximately 67% of students, equivalent to 309,000 individuals, are eligible for free and reduced-price lunches through the National School Lunch Program, according to the state’s Public Education Department. With the signing of this legislation, nearly 70,000 students who would have previously had to pay for school meals will be directly impacted. Department officials anticipate a 5% to 10% increase in participation in districts that operate national school lunch programs.
Governor Lujan Grisham included the proposal for universal free school meals in her State of the State address, emphasizing the importance of ensuring that wherever children are, there should be a kitchen working to keep them healthy, strong, and ready to learn.
Some experts argue that additional funding will be necessary to sustain this effort in the long run. New Mexico experienced a surplus in revenue this year, partly due to a financial windfall from oil production. Legislative analysts estimate that providing free meals to students in participating schools could require recurring funding of between $27 million and $40 million from the state’s general fund.
Advocacy groups view universal free school meals as a crucial step in New Mexico’s ongoing efforts to combat historically high food insecurity rates in a state plagued by generational poverty. Recent initiatives have included legislation in 2020 that eliminated student co-pays for reduced-price school meals and a 2017 measure that made New Mexico the first state in the U.S. to prevent children from being shamed due to school meal debts. The newly enacted law also aims to increase the proportion of locally sourced food through farm-to-table grants. Currently, around 168 farmers, ranchers, and food businesses in 19 of the state’s 33 counties sell their products to schools.
Supporters of the new law also hope it will reduce food waste by allowing more time for kindergarten through sixth grade students to sit down and eat, and by collecting unused food for redistribution to food pantries, students, and other charitable organizations.