"The Healthy School Meals for All" bill would apply to more than 300,000 kids in the state who qualify.
A new bill was introduced by lawmakers and advocates on Wednesday to provide free, healthy lunches to students in Colorado schools.
Called "The Healthy School Meals for All" bill, the program would come out of the Department of Education to reimburse school meal providers for any meals given to students who don't qualify for a federal program that provides free and/or reduced-price meals.
"The program begins operating in the 2023-24 budget year, subject to the state being selected to participate in the federal demonstration project to use medicaid eligibility to identify students who are eligible for the federal school meals programs (demonstration project)," writes the bill's summary.
A participating school food authority that chooses to participate must (directly from the bill):
- Provide free meals to all students enrolled in the public schools that the participating school food authority serves;
- Provide to the department annual notice of participation; and
- Maximize the amount of federal reimbursement by participating in the federal community eligibility provision to identify students who are eligible for the federal school meals programs.
If this bill passes, the federal government would do most of the funding but the state would also have to pay too.
"I think it could be anywhere from $75 million to $105 million but we think that something like that is very doable and is needed. Our kids’ health and academic success and overall, well-being is definitely worth investing in now more than ever," said Marc Jacobson, Hunger Free Colorado’s chief executive officer.
Learn more about "The Healthy School Meals for All" bill.
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