ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Budget realities of struggling families and a struggling school system have collided in New Mexico's largest district.

Faced with mounting unpaid lunch charges in the economic downturn, Albuquerque Public Schools last month instituted a "cheese sandwich policy." The alternative cold meals are served to children whose parents fail to pick up their lunch tab.

Food and Nutrition Director Mary Swift said the school district had to take action because delinquent charges were getting out of hand. She said all parents have to do if they can't afford hot meals is apply for the free and reduced meal program, reported KOAT-TV in Albuquerque.

School districts in three other states have also taken to serving cheese sandwiches to lunch debtors.

Critics argue it's a form of punishment for children whose parents can't afford to pay. In some cases, parents are waiting for approval to participate in government-aided lunch programs.

"We are taking an adult problem, and the children are the ones getting the punishment for it," said Dr. Paula Hill.

Many are outraged, saying a cold cheese sandwich is not nutritious enough to sustain children for an entire school day.

"Many of these children don't have breakfast, they may not have supper, and this is the only meal they may get," said Joyce Victoriano, a grandparent.

Other parents say it singles their children out. At a January meeting of the Albuquerque Public School Board, one mother said, "She is embarrassed to go to school and talks about it every night when I am getting her in the bathtub, and it just hurts."

In New Mexico, nearly 60 percent of public school students, about 204,000, received free or reduced-price lunches at the beginning of the school year.

In Albuquerque, unpaid lunch charges hover around $140,000 for the first five months of the school year. In less than two months in to the cheese sandwich program, the district has collected about collected $91,000 and identified 2,000 students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, which allows students to get a hot meal when their parents can't afford it.