Healthy school meals program in jeopardy
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Colorado offers every student a free breakfast and lunch at school — a two-year-old initiative so popular that it's now running short on money.
Why it matters: "Kids who are hungry are also more likely to struggle with academic performance due to irritability, depression, anxiety and difficulty with concentration," Sandra Hoyt Stenmark, a clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, said in a statement.
By the numbers: The state is serving 194,000 breakfasts and 451,000 lunches at 1,805 sites a year, according to the Colorado Department of Education, which oversees the Healthy School Meals for All Program.
- The number of breakfasts and lunches served grew at least 30% last year and continues to rise.
The latest: To keep the program alive, state lawmakers crafted two November ballot measures that ask voters for more money.
- One seeks voters' permission to keep $12.4 million state tax revenue that exceeded initial estimates, which otherwise must be refunded under the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, TABOR.
- The second ballot question expands the program by curtailing tax deductions for those making more than $300,000 a year. It's expected to generate more than $95 million a year to make the program solvent.
Friction point: If the referendums fail, authorities plan to shrink its scope and offer it to only the neediest schools.
Catch up quick: Colorado voters approved Proposition FF in the 2022 election, making permanent a pandemic-era program.
- The program is powered by a tax hike on those who make $300,000 or more a year.
- It tallied a deficit in its first two years and expects to fall $42 million short next year.
- The tight budget year meant lawmakers couldn't cover the gap as they succeeded in doing the first two years.
What they're saying: In an interview, state Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet (D-Commerce City) touted the program's popularity and how it has "completely changed lunch culture. … There's no more lunch shaming."
What we're watching: The House gave final approval to the legislation last week, and on Thursday it cleared its first hurdle in the Senate.