There are only two state measures on the Colorado ballot this year, and they both have to do with feeding Colorado's kids if passed Proposition MM would raise income taxes for households bringing in more than $300,000 a year to fund the Healthy School Meals for All program that was established in 2022. Here's CPR's Jenny Brundin on this week's Purplish.
Brundin: 600,000 kids are now getting free meals. That's a hundred thousand more kids eating lunch and 50,000 more getting breakfast than before this past. To put that another way across the state, 30% more kids are eating lunch in the cafeteria.
Healthy School Meals for All has been incredibly popular, but CPR has Bente Birkland reports that the program is short on funding. Proposition MM is controversial. Some lawmakers are reluctant to ask more of the taxpayer, but advocates say that Free Meals for All reduces stigma and contributes to better learning outcomes. Here's Bente Birkland.
Birkland: To go back to this tax increase, voters are being asked to approve. You said it would raise almost a hundred million dollars a year for the program. How does that compare to how much money's going into it right now?
Brundin: Well, it would almost double the program's budget. In the first year of the Healthy School Meals for all tax, it brought in about $112 million. This tax increase would bring that to around $200 million a year for the program.
Birkland: Okay, and as we mentioned, this tax is only paid by about 200,000 individuals or joint filers in Colorado.
Brundin: Yeah, that's about 6% of households.
Birkland: That's sort of an interesting part of this whole program. For plenty of voters, it may be an appealing way to essentially have the rich, the wealthy, pay a bigger share. But it also means that this huge statewide program is being born by a relatively small number of people, and for other voters they may think that's not fair.
Colorado is one of only eight states that offers free meals for all students. Find more on this issue and other episodes of Purplish here.
