Students are banking on school-provided free meals – and the state is struggling to keep up

The Healthy School Meals for All program provides free breakfast and lunch to all of Colorado’s public school students, across 178 school districts. It was approved by voters in 2022, under the name Proposition FF, and it’s currently feeding even more students than initially anticipated – which means its been largely successful in terms of its reach, and shows there’s definitely a need for free food for the state’s kids. But, there’s a downside: it’s created an unforeseen gap in funding.

Here to talk about how big that gap is, and what the school system plans to do about it, is Jenny Brundin. Brundin is an education reporter with Colorado Public Radio, and has been covering this story. She spoke with KGNU’s Jackie Sedley during the Morning Magazine.

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