Colorado Voters Approve Boost to Free School Meals Program

Two ballot measures to fund Colorado’s universal school meals program, the only statewide contests in the 2025 off-year election, were approved by voters on November 4, according to unofficial results.

The Associated Press called the race in favor of Proposition MM, which would raise $95 million annually for school meals by limiting tax deductions for filers with higher incomes, at 8:25 p.m. With more than 1.4 million votes counted, nearly 65 percent of voters had cast a ballot in favor of Proposition LL, and 58 percent voted in favor of Proposition MM.

Both measures were referred to the ballot by the Colorado General Assembly earlier this year. Together, they will shore up funding for Healthy School Meals For All, a state program that provides free breakfast and lunch to all students regardless of their family’s income level.

“Thank you to every voter, volunteer, community partner, and endorsing organization who turned out to pass Propositions LL and MM, ensuring every child in Colorado can continue to get a healthy meal at school,” Joe Kabourek, campaign manager for the Keep Kids Fed Colorado campaign, said in a press release. “Propositions LL and MM will keep kids fed in school, leading to better grades, higher graduation rates, and better outcomes for Colorado students.”

Colorado voters approved a ballot measure to create the program three years ago. It was funded by limiting income tax deductions for filers earning over $300,000 per year. The program’s funding mechanism raised more than expected in the 2023-2024 fiscal year, but its costs also exceeded projections, resulting in a budget gap that rose to roughly $50 million this year.

Proposition LL will allow the state to keep the $12.4 million in excess 2023-2024 revenue that would otherwise be returned to voters under the 1992 state constitutional amendment known as the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.

Proposition MM aims to permanently fund the full program by further limiting tax deductions for filers earning over $300,000 a year. About 194,000 Coloradans in that high-income category would pay an average of $486 more in income taxes yearly, according to nonpartisan state fiscal analysts.

Keep Kids Fed Colorado reported $739,200 in contributions since June, mostly from the nonprofit Hunger Free Colorado. The measures were endorsed by a long list of organizations including Children’s Hospital Colorado, Great Education Colorado, Mi Familia Vota, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union and Save the Children Action Network. The measures did not draw an organized opposition campaign.

During a special legislative session in August, Colorado lawmakers tweaked Proposition MM to allow the additional revenue to be spent on broader efforts to reduce food insecurity, once the Healthy School Meals For All program’s costs are covered. That would help the state partially offset the impact — estimated at up to $170 million annually — of reduced funding and higher administrative costs for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, as a result of cuts passed by congressional Republicans in July.

“While we celebrate this victory for Colorado kids and families, we also cannot ignore that, for thousands of Colorado families, this remains a time of deep economic hardship and food insecurity, made worse by USDA’s refusal to provide full funding for SNAP and the devastating cuts to SNAP Congress approved this past summer,” Anya Rose, director of public policy at Hunger Free Colorado, said in a statement.

This is a developing story originally published by Colorado Newsline, part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network.