While some legislators and the governor are boasting about a new law to provide ‘free’ breakfast and lunch to all NM public school students (SB 4), it begs the question, “What has been done to address the growth of poverty and government dependence in our state?”
A recent U.S News and World Report article points out, “The state with the highest rate of participation in SNAP (formerly call food stamps) is New Mexico, where 24.3% of the state’s residents were enrolled as of November 2022, nearly 5 percentage points higher than any other state.” Providing tax funded meals to children is great, but it is a short term, ‘band aid’ approach that ignores the greater issue at hand.
Providing opportunities for working families to move from government dependence to self sufficiency is needed to address the root of the problem with a long term solution. Read more HERE.