What's wrong with a cheese sandwich, fruit and milk? It's FREE!!! Why complain? If someone would provide me with that TODAY, I would take it. Damn, when I was 7 years old we had to bring our own lunch to school, walk home to eat or just go hungry.

Of course, this policy only affects the poorer middle class. The welfare kids get a fully funded free hot lunch. My solution to the school's money woes: Free cheese sandwiches for all students every day. They don't like it? They can bring their own bag lunch.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090225/ap_on_re_us/cheese_sandwich_flap

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A cold cheese sandwich, fruit and a milk carton might not seem like much of a meal — but that's what's on the menu for students in New Mexico's largest school district without their lunch money.

Faced with mounting unpaid lunch charges in the economic downturn, Albuquerque Public Schools last month instituted a "cheese sandwich policy," serving the alternative meals to children whose parents are supposed to be able to pay for some or all of their regular meals but fail to pick up the tab.

Such policies have become a necessity for schools seeking to keep budgets in the black while ensuring children don't go hungry. School districts including those in Chula Vista, Calif.; Hillsborough County, Fla.; and Lynnwood, Wash.; have also taken to serving cheese sandwiches to children with delinquent lunch accounts.

Critics argue the cold meals are a form of punishment for children whose parents can't afford to pay. Parents who qualify for free meals are not affected.

"We've heard stories from moms coming in saying their child was pulled out of the lunch line and given a cheese sandwich," said Nancy Pope, director of the New Mexico Collaborative to End Hunger. "One woman said her daughter never wants to go back to school."

Some Albuquerque parents have tearfully pleaded with school board members to stop singling out their children because they're poor, while others have flooded talk radio shows thanking the district for imposing a policy that commands parental responsibility.