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A bill that would ask voters to approve new funding for universal school meals passed its first vote from Colorado lawmakers Thursday, following testimony from people like Martha Espinoza.
Espinoza, a mom and home early child care provider in Greeley, told lawmakers at the capitol before the vote that free school meals for all students has been important for families she knows.
There are parents who have to wake up before dawn and spend an hour getting to work by 4 a.m. and then work 12-hour shifts every day. For them, preparing meals that stay fresh during the day for their children is complicated, she said.
“This proposal would help parents have the security that their children are fed in a healthy way while they’re learning,” Espinoza said.
She was one of about 30 people who supported the bill in public testimony. Many said that the Healthy School Meals for All program providing universal meals removes the stigma for students, because accepting the meals does not mean they come from low-income families. Educators said that students miss less school and learn better when they’re not hungry. Many who testified spoke to lawmakers in Spanish. Some held back tears as they talked. Two speakers did testify against the bill, citing costs and food waste.
In 2022, Colorado voters approved a ballot proposal to make breakfast and lunch free for all students regardless of family income. The program was funded by lowering a tax credit for taxpayers making more than $300,000 a year, meaning they pay more in taxes.
But many more students than the state projected are eating the subsidized school meals. That means the cost has also gone up and has led legislators to look for more funding.
HB 1274 — sponsored by two Democrats, Rep. Lorena García and Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet — would put two questions to voters this November.
The first would ask voters if the state can keep all of the revenue it collected for the program in its first full year being in effect. That’s because the state ended up collecting more than expected. Under Colorado’s TABOR law, the state must ask permission to keep the extra money, about $12.4 million, or issue refunds to taxpayers.
The second ballot question proposed in the bill would ask voters to approve new revenue to pay for the school meals by further lowering a tax credit for those same taxpayers making more than $300,000. The bill would aim to collect about $95 million in additional revenue to go towards the Healthy School Meals for All program.
Last year, the program had a $56 million shortfall that lawmakers filled from other funding sources.
Lawmakers on the House education committee advanced the bill forward in a 7-5 vote.
Even if the bill makes it all the way through the legislature and the questions make it to voters in November, and the voters approve the questions, the state wouldn’t collect the new funding until 2026. That means the state still needs to find the funds to support the program in the current year.
A report published by the Joint Budget Committee staff this week estimates that the current school year’s cost for Healthy School Meals For All is about $138 million. The state had calculated that about $115 million would come from the program’s funding of taxes on those who make more than $300,000, but new estimates show that the program may only generate about $103 million for this school year.
That would mean the state needs $35.2 million from its education fund to cover the shortfall. Some funding from that account, about $22 million, was already set to help cover the meals program, but this week’s projections show more will be needed.
One speaker, Dan Sharp, a school nutrition director in Mesa County, said in his district participation in school meals has gone up by 40% since the start of the program. The district now serves 12,000 school meals daily, he said.
Prior to the state program making meals free for all students, he said there were students who were eligible for free meals but didn’t participate because of the stigma, and would go hungry.
“We can do a lot more,” he said. Fully funding the program will be a good thing for districts, he added.
Children ‘connected to where their food comes from’
Many of those who testified also spoke in support of Colorado farmers and ranchers.
The original program as voters approved it in 2022 included grant programs that would help school districts purchase local food for the meals, and other grants to help train staff or provide stipends for food service staff.
Those grant programs were supposed to be phased in after the first year, but have been on hold because of the lack of enough funding in the program.
If voters approved the two ballot questions included in the bill, there may be enough funding to roll out those grant programs.
Luke Larson, owner of a ranch and cattle operation in Fowler in southwest Colorado, sells beef under the Centennial Cuts brand name.
He said he’s benefited from a pilot program that existed before the 2022 initiative and which helped school districts purchase food from local ranchers and farmers. That pilot was due to expand under the grants that have been established by Healthy School Meals for All grants but haven’t been funded yet.
“Our family’s beef is currently being served three miles from our ranch in the Fowler schools, and 20 miles from us in the Crowley schools,” Larson said. “Children in these districts are not only receiving great tasting nutritious food but they’re importantly being connected to where their food comes from, and how it’s produced. This connection to how healthy food is produced will last a lifetime.”
Not everyone has the same priorities. One of the lawmakers who opposed the bill, GOP Rep. Lori Garcia Sander, cited state budget problems this year. She also worried about food waste.
“Not all families need free meals,” Garcia Sander said. “I don’t believe the majority of Colorado’s taxpayers will have the appetite for this this year.”
Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.
