Purplish Colorado’s ‘Healthy School Meals for All’ is at a crossroads. Voters will decide where it goes
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Oct 17, 2025 Jenny Brundin, an education reporter for CPR, breaks down the challenges facing Colorado's Healthy School Meals for All program. She discusses the financial strain on the initiative, originally funded by a tax on the wealthy. The conversation covers two crucial ballot measures aimed at solving the funding crisis and the implications for students across the state. Topics include the program’s success in providing universal meals, political opposition to new taxes, and what might happen if voters don’t support the proposed measures.
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School Meals Improve Behavior And Learning
- Research links meal skipping and hunger to worse concentration, motivation, and higher suspension rates among teens.
- Teachers report behavioral improvements when students have reliable access to meals at school.
Voters Approved Universal School Meals
- Proposition FF in 2022 raised taxes on high earners to fund free meals for all K-12 public students.
- The measure passed by nearly 60% and launched the Healthy School Meals for All program in 2023-24.
Popularity And Inflation Strained Costs
- The program expanded participation to 600,000 kids, adding 100,000 more lunches and 50,000 more breakfasts.
- High food inflation and demand made the rollout far more expensive than initially projected.