RGF successfully pushes back against MLG’s “over the top” school lunch rules

Back in April the Rio Grande Foundation helped lead an effort to push back against some pretty wild rules the Gov. and Public Education Department were considering imposing on school lunch programs statewide. You can see what those proposed regulations looked like and our thoughts here.

In a bit of good news the PED’s new regulations were just published and they are MUCH more reasonable than the original proposal. You can see them for yourself here. Here are a few highlights:

• Fifty percent of weekly required meals with the exception of milk, shall be freshly prepared;
• Students in grades K-5 must have at least 20 minutes to eat;
• Donate unused food to students, food banks, or other nonprofit charitable organizations;
• An emphasis on purchasing unprocessed and minimally processed food items in school lunches.

Unlike the original proposal which would have required massive investment in on-site food prep and composting, these rules are reasonable and dare we say even GOOD. Now to get New Mexico’s academic performance out of last place.