Newtown county councillor Joy Jones wants all school pupils up to the age of seven to receive free school meals.
Cllr Jones wants to meet the Welsh Goverment Education Secretary, Kirsty Williams AM, to discuss the matter.
She would like to see the free school meals scheme for children up to Year Two in primary school to come to Wales.
This is the current policy in England.
She also feels that allowing pupils to pay in cash would also help people who are having to manage tight budgets.
Cllr Jones, said: “People are really struggling to stay afloat, and parents can rack up debt with the current system very quickly. I have spoken to people who are in this situation. Once people do that it’s difficult to get out of it.
“I feel, if all children up to the age of seven are given free school meals, like they do in England, it would help.
“I’m not just talking about Powys, but the whole of Wales and I’d like to meet Kirsty Williams (Cabinet Secretary for Education in Wales) to discuss this.”
In this year’s budget the price for school dinners increased by 15p for children in Primary Schools from £2.30 to £2.45. And in Secondary Schools from £2.40 to £2.55.
The cashless payment system has also been lauded by Powys County Council as a success story.
A spokesperson for PCC said: “We use ParentPay – a national cashless system to manage our school spend – it is used for meals, uniforms, trips etc.
“If there is no credit on the ParentPay account then a secondary aged pupil would not get a meal, a primary pupil would be fed and an invoice raised or email alert sent to the parent/guardian.
“An alert system can be set up by account holders which will send an email to say the account is nearing the limit set by the account holder.
“Accounts are paid for online or using Paypoint which is available through various retail outlets including the Post Office, and they can be paid for with cash.”
A spokesman for the Welsh Government said that Cllr Jones would need to arrange her own meeting with Kirsty Williams AM to discuss free school meals.
The spokesman added: “We are operating against the backdrop of austerity, and we have not received any additional funding to manage the impact of the UK Government’s welfare reform agenda on free school meals.
“Nonetheless, we offer learners free school milk up to the age of seven , and are making an additional £7 million available for local authorities in Wales to meet the additional costs associated with these reforms.
“Over 80 per-cent of schools in Wales have implemented cashless systems to help parents keep track of any payments they need to make.
“Any parent struggling with school meal debt should contact their local authorities catering teams to discuss options and the possibility around setting up payment plans.”
By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter
