Every Colorado student deserves access to nourishing, locally-sourced meals that support their health, reflect their culture, and are served with dignity. Here’s how we got here and where we’re going.
In 2022, Colorado became a national leader in child nutrition through the passage of Proposition FF: Healthy School Meals for All (HSMA), with resounding support from voters. The program allows schools participating in the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs to offer breakfast and lunch to all students at no cost and invests in quality local food from Colorado farms and ranches, technical assistance to support schools in providing more from-scratch meals, student and parent advisory committees, and higher wages for frontline school nutrition professionals.
How We Got Here
The Road to Healthy School Meals for All
This program was built by a broad and diverse community-led coalition of organizations and individuals from across the state. From the earliest days of COVID-era listening sessions to two successful ballot measure campaigns, HSMA is a story of Coloradans advocating for children and winning.
Healthy School Meals for All Timeline
- 2020 – The federal government temporarily funded free school breakfast and lunch for all students during the COVID-19 pandemic, regardless of income — giving families and advocates a glimpse of what universal school meals could look like.
- 2021 – Hunger Free Colorado conducted listening sessions with parents to learn about their experience with free school meals and learned that it was very helpful, and there was a strong desire to make the meals more nutritious, locally-sourced and culturally relevant.
- 2022 – As pandemic-era relief ended, families returned to navigating applications and meal debt. Community members responded by coming together to advocate for something better. A coalition pushed the state legislature to refer Proposition FF to the ballot.
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- Local Purchasing Grants – School districts will be eligible to receive grants to purchase food from Colorado farmers and ranchers, creating a new pipeline from local food to institutions that centers community needs.
- Wage Boost Grants – School districts will be eligible to receive grants to boost wages and benefits for front-line cafeteria workers, improving the work environment for these critical nutrition staff. A wage boost for cafeteria workers is both long overdue and critical to help school districts hire and retain the food service staff they need in the midst of workforce shortages and the increase in meals distributed.
- Student and Parent Advisory Committees (SPACs) – These committees give decision-making power to students and parents to advise their district on food selection to ensure meals are culturally relevant, healthy and appealing. Colorado is the first state in the nation to establish these committees, providing a unique opportunity to set a new transformational standard for the country.
- Technical Assistance Grants – School districts and food system organizations will be able to apply for grants to support equipment needs, from-scratch cooking and the development of local food systems. The technical assistance investments will be crucial to supporting school nutrition departments, farmers, and ranchers in successfully transitioning to more of the local, from-scratch foods our communities want in their cafeterias.
- 2023 – HSMA launched to overwhelming response. Student participation increased by more than 30%, higher even than during the pandemic, and every eligible district in the state opted in. The surge in participation, combined with food inflation, strained the program’s budget and highlighted the need for additional funding to sustain the program for the long term.
- 2024 Facing a funding shortfall, legislators voted to pause local food purchasing, scratch-cooking support, and worker wage increases — key components for Colorado. Advocates pushed for a new ballot measure to restore full funding, but the effort fell short that year.
- 2025 – Through persistence, need, and power, community members once again advocated to pass a bill to refer a measure to the ballot to support the program. Legislators introduced HB25-1274 which referred Propositions LL and MM to the ballot where voters would decide whether this program could continue and be fully implemented or be significantly reduced halfway through the school year.
- November of 2025 – Voters passed Propositions LL and MM with 66% and 60% support, proving once again that feeding our kids and bettering school meals was important to a large majority of the state.
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- Proposition LL:
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- Let Colorado keep money already collected to fund Healthy School Meals for All.
- Continued offering free school meals for all public school students through the 2025-2026 school year.
- Proposition MM:
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- Continues offering free school meals for all public school students beyond the 2026 school year.
- Provides funding for schools to buy fresh, nutritious ingredients from local Colorado farmers and ranchers.
- Trains and supports schools to prepare healthy, from scratch meals instead of relying on processed food.
- Increases compensation for front-line school nutrition professionals who prepare and serve meals.
- After Healthy School Meals for All is fully funded, supports SNAP, a program that helps 300,000 Colorado families afford groceries each month as it faces devastating federal cuts
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- Proposition LL:
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How Healthy School Meals is Transforming Colorado Food Systems
HEALTHY SCHOOL MEALS FOR ALL SAW…
30%+ increase in student meal participation in breakfast and lunch in year one
100% of eligible Colorado districts opted-in in its first year
66% of Colorado voters support Prop LL and 60% of voters support Prop MM in 2025
an estimated $1,300 in annual savings per child for Colorado families under the program
What HSMA Stands For
A vision for just school food systems in Colorado
Healthy School Meals for All isn’t just about making meals free. It’s a vision for a stronger, more resilient local food system – one that connects Colorado schools directly to the farmers and ranchers in their communities, equips cafeteria workers with the resources and training they need, and empowers parents and students to shape menus that are healthy, popular, and culturally rooted. The result is a school food system that doesn’t just feed kids, it serves them healthy, desirable, culturally relevant meals while also strengthening Colorado’s agricultural economy, properly supporting those who make and serve the meals, and shaping the next generation of Coloradans.
The Students
Healthy School Meals for All is an investment in the health and public education of Colorado’s children.
Students experiencing hunger tend to struggle academically and are more prone to behavioral problems and emotional, mental, and physical health challenges. Research shows that access to school meals positively affects students’ health and attendance, reduces disciplinary infractions, and increases test scores among marginalized groups. By ensuring every student has access to healthy, nutritious meals during the school day, HSMA contributes to the well-being and academic success of more young Coloradans.
The program also promotes inclusivity and dignity by eliminating the stigma and shame associated with receiving free school meals or carrying meal debt. When all students eat the same meal at no cost, the cafeteria becomes a more equitable space — one where no child is singled out, no account runs negative, and no student goes without.
“It’s been incredibly personally healing to see how universal meals has really equalized school meals and allowed all students to access them without stigma. I would watch a whole class come down for breakfast together or a whole class line up for lunch, and it literally brought me to tears to see how universal meals changed the culture of school meals.” – Colorado Food Service Employee
HSMA also recognizes that when students see familiar foods on the menu, they’re more likely to eat and enjoy their meals. By centering cultural relevance in menu development—inviting families to share recipes, partnering with communities to adapt traditional dishes to meet nutrition guidelines, and giving students a real voice in what ends up on their trays—the program creates meals that are genuinely appealing. When students see their own food traditions honored in the cafeteria, they’re more likely to eat, more willing to try new foods alongside familiar ones, and able to build a healthy, positive relationship with food that extends well beyond the school day.
Local Farmers, Ranchers & Cafeteria Workers
With the passage of Propositions LL and MM in November 2025, the full vision of Healthy School Meals for All is now funded and moving forward, including the components that are deeply important to the people who grow and prepare Colorado’s school food every day.
For local farmers and ranchers, HSMA creates a meaningful new market. School districts across the state will now be resourced to purchase fresh, locally grown ingredients, channeling dollars back into Colorado’s agricultural economy and forging direct relationships between schools and the producers in their regions. These connections forge partnerships that bring farmers into classrooms, connect students to the land their food comes from, and strengthen the regional food systems that feed all of us.
“Farmers and ranchers are the backbone of our food system, and they struggle to compete with industrial-scale operations. By keeping money in our communities through Healthy School Meals for All, we are supporting small and mid-sized farms and creating a stronger, more resilient food system for all of us.” – Roberto Meza, First Generation Farmer & CEO of Hearty Provisions
School Nutrition Professionals
For school nutrition professionals, school districts will be able to apply for grants to provide resources for schools to hire, train, and retain the food service staff they need, addressing real workforce shortages while investing in the skills required to cook locally-sourced meals from scratch. School districts will also be eligible to receive grants to boost wages and or provide stipends for front-line cafeteria workers, improving the work environment for these critical nutrition professionals.
“Cooking from scratch is so important… We can make fresh food for them and have more choices since we are creating the meal plan.” – Jeannine Davison, Director of K-12 Charter School Food Service, Windsor, CO
Together, these components don’t just improve what’s on the tray. They build a more just, sustainable, and interconnected food system where students, workers, farmers, and communities all have a stake in the outcome.
Where We Are Now
Working toward effective implementation
Passing these ballot measures was only the beginning. HSMA is a living program shaped by the communities it serves. The real work is in implementation which requires honest partnership between districts, families, and community organizations. Every student who fills out a taste test card, every parent who joins a SPAC meeting, every farmer who partners with a school district helps move this work forward.
Please email erika@hungerfreecolorado.org or nicholas@hungerfreecolorado.org for any further information on Healthy School Meals for All and its implementation.