Latest news with #HealthySchoolMealsforAllProgram
Axios
28-04-2025
- Health
- Axios
Healthy school meals program in jeopardy
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."
Axios
01-04-2025
- Business
- Axios
Colorado budget tightens, but spares Medicaid and schools
Colorado lawmakers are preparing to vote on a $43.9 billion spending plan unveiled Monday that attempts to close a $1.2 billion shortfall without gutting core services. Why it matters: The annual state budget is the most consequential bill passed each legislative session. This year's edition arrives with outsized pressure — it's the first without pandemic-era federal funding in five years and requires painful belt-tightening across major programs. Colorado lawmakers are preparing to vote on a $43.9 billion spending plan unveiled yesterday that attempts to close a $1.2 billion shortfall without gutting core services. Why it matters: The annual state budget is the most consequential bill passed each legislative session. This year's edition arrives with outsized pressure — it's the first in years without pandemic-era federal funding and requires painful belt-tightening across major programs. Follow the money: Transportation is taking one of the hardest hits. More than $71 million is being cut from alternative transit projects, including on-demand rides, bike lanes and emissions-reduction initiatives. Another $64 million is being pulled from broader transportation funding backed by the general fund. The budget also slashes $34 million from the Healthy School Meals for All Program, leaving just $8 million to keep it running through December. Democratic lawmakers plan to ask voters to approve new taxes to sustain it, the Colorado Sun reports. Another $13 million is being trimmed from a fund that acts as a loan program for state employees. Lawmakers also plan to ask voters this November to raise tax revenue for the program, Colorado Politics reports. Yes, but: The budget proposal as is avoids the feared cuts to education and Medicaid, long seen as vulnerable targets. It includes $150 million in new K-12 spending, a win for education advocates. What they're saying:"I think that this is a budget that everyone will be upset by and that everyone can be proud of," said Sen. Jeff Bridges (D-Greenwood Village), chair of the budget committee, per the Denver Post. What's next: The Senate will spend this week weighing the legislation before sending it to the House. After it passes the House, it will head to Gov. Jared Polis' desk.
