New Mexico state Sen. Michael Padilla for decades thought the days of “lunch shaming,” students being refused meals or being forced to work for their food because they couldn’t afford to pay, was a thing of the past.
Padilla, who grew up as a foster child, knows the life of a low-income public school student. In the 1970s, Padilla set up tables and chairs at school to earn a piece of bread and slice of cheese for lunch.
“I didn’t really see it as a horrible thing, but I could see where I was being treated very differently,” Padilla said. “But I didn’t realize this was still going on. I’m 44 now. In the world’s richest nation, we’re not feeding our children lunch, but we’re expecting them to focus on their studies.”
The Democratic lawmaker sponsored a bill this year that was pushed by New Mexico Appleseed, a nonprofit that helps the poor. The Hunger-Free Students’ Bill of Rights Act, which was signed into law by Republican Gov. Susana Martinez and went into effect April 6, requires school administrators to sign up eligible students for the National School Lunch Program and ends practices that embarrass children for not being able to afford lunch, such as making them do chores or wear a special wristband.
The law, the first of its kind in the country, requires schools to provide a free, printed meal application in every school enrollment packet. If a school learns of a student who has not submitted an application for free or reduced-fee meals, a school official will file an application for the student.
For students who owe money or cannot afford a meal on a given day, school officials must provide a reimbursable meal. For students who owe money for five or more meals, schools can check the state list of students who are eligible for free meals. If students are not on the list, a school official must make two attempts to contact the parents and have them submit an application for the meal program. If that doesn’t work, a school official can try to reach the parents and decide if other assistance is needed.
Jennifer Ramo, executive director of New Mexico Appleseed, said the state’s schools have had trouble getting parents to sign up for the federal program, which is why the state acted to legislate their cooperation by giving the forms directly to parents. To be accepted into the federal program, which has income requirements, parents must sign an affidavit and submit multiple documents.
Padilla “was trying to ensure schools were enrolling kids to the extent possible. That’s been an issue in other parts of the country because it requires parents to fill out an application, give it to the school,” said Angela Rachidi, research fellow in poverty studies for the American Enterprise Institute.
About two-thirds of New Mexico students already are enrolled in the federal lunch program, according to the New Mexico Public Education Department.
“States actually have a huge incentive to enroll eligible schoolkids,” Rachidi said. “So from that perspective, it seems funny that some states would have to legislate it, but there’s a lot of benefits from the healthcare perspective.”
A new Department of Agriculture requirement mandates states create a policy to handle students’ meal debt by July 1 so that it can go into effect for the 2017-2018 academic year.
Padilla said he has been approached by about 20 states that want to know more about the law, including California, Texas and Colorado. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., is considering introducing it on the federal level.
