Bill would guarantee warm lunch for New Mexico students regardless of payment

A bill that would ensure all students get a warm lunch, even if their parents are behind on payments, could become law if Governor Susana Martinez decides to sign it.

Senate Bill 374 was approved by the state legislature this session.

Senator Michael Padilla, (D) Albuquerque, told ABC-7 a lot of schools in New Mexico give students a lower nutritional valued meal, like a cheese sandwich, if their parents are behind on payments. He says this can affect a student’s education.

“Really they are powerless and have no power to pay that bill. And so instead of thinking about their studies, they’re thinking about their stomach,” Sen. Padilla said.

In the Las Cruces Public School District, elementary students are given a lunch, regardless of wether their parents are behind on payments. Middle school students, however, are turned away and do not receive any food, if their debt exceeds $25, according to LCPS Executive Director of Operations Nancy Cathey.

High School students will never receive a lunch if their parents are behind on payments, Cathey added.

Cathey said the parents receive numerous phone calls and letters warning them they are behind on payments, before it gets to that point.

“It’s a really difficult subject,” Cathey said. “Because it affects kids and everyone wants kids to eat. But then there’s the financial piece that has to be addressed, if the kid’s not paying for it, who is paying for it? Where does the money come from?”

It turns out, LCPS foots the bill.

Cathey says on average, the district pays roughly $5-7 thousand at the end of the year to make up for unpaid lunch bills. She said that money comes from each individual school’s “activity fund,” a fund dedicated for things like field trips.

When asked if Governor Susana Martinez would sign the bill, a spokesman told ABC-7 the governor would be unable to comment because she has not yet reviewed the bill.

Governor Martinez has until next Friday at noon to decide.