The Boulder Valley School Board heard a report Tuesday on the future of Colorado’s universal school lunch program, including that the school district can’t afford to backfill the program if it’s not funded by the state.
Colorado voters in 2022 approved the Healthy School Meals for All program, which was funded by limiting income tax reductions for taxpayers who have a federal adjusted gross income of $300,000 or more. The program allows school districts to provide breakfast and lunch to all students at no cost to families.
But the cost ended up exceeding revenues, with a $52.8 million shortfall in the 2023-24 school year and a projected $32.7 million shortfall last school year. With the state’s own $1.2 billion budget shortfall to manage, legislators decided the state couldn’t afford to cover the gap past the end of 2025…