A New Mexico bill that prevents stigmatizing students with meal debt has made headlines across the country, but according to its authors, the legislation is just the tip of the iceberg on a much bigger issue.
The Hunger-Free Students’ Bill of Rights Act was signed into law by Gov. Susana Martinez earlier this month and requires schools to work with parents to pay lunch debts or sign up for federal meal assistance.
The legislation, SB 374, was written by New Mexico Appleseed, a small nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that focuses on solving issues like hunger, poor education and homelessness in New Mexico.
Formed by Ramo in 2009, NM Appleseed is a branch of Appleseed, a nationwide organization formed by the 1958 class of Harvard Law School students aimed to provide effective policy research.
“At the very least every student is going to get a meal and not be stigmatized,” said Jennifer Ramo, executive director of New Mexico Appleseed.
SB 374 received bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, and was received highly by Martinez.
Despite the bill’s publicity, Ramo said NM Appleseed’s other work is “more important and impactful.”
One other such legislation, SM 50, requests the Senate Finance Committee to research the costs of providing for high risk families that use two or more public services.
“Is there a small group of people that aren’t seeing any outcomes?” Ramo asked of the memorial’s goal, noting that addressing issues of hunger, poverty and homelessness is important for the state to more effectively conduct.
The memorial also requested state agencies share data with the committee to more effectively conduct research.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau New Mexico has the second highest overall and childhood poverty rates in the country, at 20.4 percent and 28.5 percent, respectively.
Accrediting some of the issues to lack of preventive care in the state, Ramo also said research is needed to combat the long-term issues.
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“When you’re able to see where these families are, then you can intervene much earlier,” she said. “You can intervene, and because you know the risk factors, you can predict and prevent the outcomes.”
To help with their research, NM Appleseed has hired the UNM based Bureau of Business and Economic Research, which collects economic, social and demographic data in New Mexico. The bureau will provide NM Appleseed with resources from UNM to determine how families using social services cost the state money.
Based on studies conducted through the University of Chicago, NM Appleseed estimated that as few as 16,000 families could cost the state upwards of $900 million.
SM 50 and the UNM research partnership aims to find a more accurate figure.
“When you have a lot of data you can see the patterns,” Ramo said.
Brendon Gray is a news reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @notgraybrendon.
