COMMENTARY: As an educator, I’ve seen firsthand the impact that hunger has on student efforts to succeed. Teachers often see how hunger makes it tough on our students to succeed.
Recently, I noticed one of my students being extremely quiet and sad. He privately told me his family (mom and three kids) had run out of rice and beans, their public assistance having run out. This hungry young student had given his portion to his little sister.
Courtesy photo
Denise Corrales
He had a test that day, and we teachers let him know we would help. He ate, cheered up and earned a 95 percent on his math test. By day’s end, with community help, the family took home a trunk full of food.
Children shouldn’t have to worry about these things, yet educators see this too often.
Teachers throughout our state commonly have such heart-wrenching experiences. Thankfully, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — formerly known as food stamps — has been vital in keeping our families and children healthy, fed and ready for school.
Nearly one in five New Mexicans participate in SNAP, and most New Mexican SNAP participants are in families with children. Children’s most basic needs must be met for them to do well as students.
SNAP is our country’s first defense in helping struggling families put food on the table. Yet the 2018 Farm Bill would drastically shrink SNAP through lower eligibility levels and penalties for families with unemployed adults, including many with school-aged children. Proposed cuts would slash more than $20 billion in spending on food stamp benefits over a decade.
Hundreds of thousands of New Mexico children would be hungrier, hurting their chances for success in school and life.
Also of concern, President Trump’s budget proposal would replace SNAP food dollars with a government issued box of shelf-stable food and cut the program by 30 percent over the next 10 years. My students need to eat the fresh fruits and vegetables, grains and healthy proteins made possible by SNAP, not shelf-stable foods lower in nutritional value and high in sodium, fat and sugar.
Research shows SNAP contributes positively to children’s brain development, and children who participate in SNAP are healthier, do better in school and have increased earnings over time. Teachers know this because we see the differences.
Concerned about student achievement in New Mexico? Taking away SNAP will make it worse.
Teens who experience food insecurity during infancy are more likely to score lower on achievement tests, repeat a grade and fail to graduate from high school.
Cuts to SNAP’s vital food benefits would not only mean that more New Mexicans won’t have enough to eat; they would also have ripple effects that increase poverty and inequality, further hurting chances for student success. As Congress moves forward in renewing the Farm Bill, I urge our members of Congress to protect and strengthen SNAP. Do not cut funding or change the program in ways that would negatively impact eligibility and participation.
Help our Las Cruces students succeed. Get on the phone and tell our congressional delegation to oppose harmful cuts to SNAP.
Denise Corrales is a Las Cruces teacher and vice president of the National Educational Association-Las Cruces. Agree with her opinion? Disagree? NMPolitics.net welcomes your views. Learn about submitting your own commentary here.