• Healthy School Meals for All
• What to do with an SPU?

To access the sample policies distributed with this Special Policy Update, click here.

Healthy School Meals for All Program

In 2022, Colorado legislators passed SB22-087, Healthy Meals for All Public School Students, which created the Healthy School Meals for All Program in Colorado’s Department of Education. The program was required to be approved by voters as a ballot initiative, and Colorado voters passed the initiative in the November 2022 general election. 

Beginning with the 2023-2024 academic school year, school food authorities (meaning several authorities including districts and BOCES) (“SFAs”) may opt into a program that offers free meals to students who are not eligible for free or reduced-price meals under the federal school meals programs. The state of Colorado will provide reimbursement to cover the price of paid meals for participating SFAs. Additionally, starting in the 2024-2025 school year, additional funding will be available for SFAs to (1) purchase local foods and (2) increase wages or provide stipends to employees who prepare and serve school meals. 

In order for a school to participate in the program, SFAs must offer the federal National School Lunch or School Breakfast program at the school. All qualifying schools must implement a specific federal program, the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which is a funding option of the National School Lunch Act that enables schools to provide free meals to students. SFAs will be required to maximize the amount of federal funding they receive by participating in CEP at all qualifying schools and by directly certifying students’ eligibility. However, if a district or school is not eligible for CEP, districts may still offer free meals to students. 

The program also creates various grants and stipends, beginning in the 2024-2025 school year:

• First, it creates a local food processing grant for schools to purchase Colorado grown, raised, or processed products. To be eligible for this grant, participating schools must create an advisory committee made up of students and parents in the public schools. If the school receives the grant, which is either five thousand dollars or .25 cents multiplied by the number of eligible meals served the previous school year, whichever is greater, the school must use the money received to purchase only Colorado grown, raised, or processed products. 

• Second, it creates a school meals food preparation and service employees wage increase or stipend. A participating school may receive the greater of three thousand dollars or an amount equal to twelve cents multiplied by the number of school lunches that qualify as eligible meals that the participating SFA provided in the previous budget year, as long as the school uses one hundred percent of the amount received pursuant to the section to increase wages or provide stipends for individuals who the school employs to directly prepare and serve food for school meals. Documentation is required by law. 

• Third, it creates a local school food purchasing technical assistance and education grant program. This will issue a grant to a statewide nonprofit organization to develop and manage a program to promote Colorado grown, raised or processed products to participating schools and to assist participating schools in preparing meals using basic ingredients, with minimal reliance on processed products.

The bill also requires the state board to adopt rules concerning the implementation of the Healthy School Meals for All Program. At their April meeting, the state board adopted the rules (1 CCR 301-114). The rules address annual notification of participation, maximizing federal funding, allowable costs for local food funding, funding and documentation for wages and stipends, and record retention. 

The law imposes reporting requirements on CDE concerning the implementation of the program, including a description of the impact of the program and how it has served Colorado students and Colorado grown, raised, or processed products. 

To fund this program, state taxes are increased annually by $100,727,820. This is accomplished through increasing state taxable income only for individuals who have federal taxable income of $300,000 or more by limiting itemized or standard state income tax deductions to $12,000 for single tax return filers and $16,000 for joint tax return filers.

To opt into this program, a school food authority must: 

• Notify the CDE School Nutrition Unit of participation before the beginning of each school year

• Participate in the Community Eligibility Provision and implement School Breakfast and National School Lunch programs at all qualifying CEP schools

• Provide free meals to all students enrolled in all school sites that participate in the School Breakfast or National School Lunch program 

Accordingly, CASB has updated the below sample policies associated with nutrition, school meals, and free and reduced price lunch.

 Other resources

• SB 22-087: Healthy Meals for All Public School Students
• 1 CCR 301-114, CDE’s  Rules for Healthy School Meals for All Program
• CDE’s informational page on Healthy School Meals for All Program
• Healthy School Meals for All FAQ

What to do with an SPU?

Whether you are a seasoned policy veteran or new to policy work, below are some tips for reviewing the information contained in the CASB SPU. CASB sample policies cannot simply be adopted “as is,” so please consider the following as you plan to update your district’s local policies: 

• Review the new or updated sample policies;
• Make decisions on optional language included in the sample policies;
• Add district-specific information;
• Consider local needs and circumstances;
• Engage in board and community conversations;
• Remove CASB note boxes after the board has considered the information contained in the note box;
• Remove the CASB copyright information;
• Consult with legal counsel;
• Present the policies to the board for review and adoption; and
• Call the CASB policy team with any questions!