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Support is still growing strong for Santa Fe’s city soda tax, where last week Mayor Javier Gonzales spoke about the benefits for pre-K funding the tax could bring in for the city.
The sugary drink tax is estimated to bring in around $7 million dollars to help fund pre-kindergarten education.
This week, the city committee meeting on Monday cleared the tax as the committee voted 3 to 1 to recommend approval.
According to local Santa Fe New Mexican, nearly two dozen speakers urged the councilors to support the soda tax initiative and put it before voters for the special election in May, including Moms like Meredy Talbot-Zorn who told councilors while holding her young daughter that many kids who are poor are one average 18 months behind their peers in education.
Chamber of Commerce president, Simon Brackley supported the early education initiative, but not to be funded by what he believes would not be a sustainable source of revenue for the program, believing that a pilot program would be a better project.
Although there are still questions about how the soda tax will be implemented, three council members including Chris Rivera, Renee Villarreal, and Peter Ives all voted in favor of the proposal being presented to voters in May.
Other cities like Philadelphia have started to implement the sugary tax and are already seeing the benefits showing more and more kids now being able to attend preschool.
Latino kids often live in underserved areas where sugary drinks are more commonly found and less access to healthy foods and educational opportunities, ensuring Latinos get a healthy early start can help ensure the future of their health.
Find out more about what research says here on Latino kids and healthy weights or sugary drinks.
By The Numbers
74
percent
of Latino kids have had a sugary drink by age 2 (vs. 45% of white kids)
