The Denver Gazette

Backers of healthy school meals kick off campaign

BY MARIANNE GOODLAND The Denver Gazette

Backers of a referred ballot measure to pay for K-12 meals kicked off the fall ballot measure campaign season Thursday at an Edgewater school.

Healthy Meals for All would ask voters to approve a change in high-income tax deductions, which would create a new funding stream to provide free meals to all students in Colorado public schools.

The measure is being referred to the November ballot by the General Assembly, under House Bill 1414. It’s one of two referred measures in November.

The program not only would cover the costs of school meals, it also would increase pay for school meal workers and provide grants for schools to purchase Colorado grown, raised, or processed products.

To pay for it will take a change in tax policy. It would cap the amount that taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes of $300,000 per year could claim as deductions on their state income tax. That would affect the top 3% of all income earners.

Currently, the ceiling on those deductions is for gross income at $400,000; taxpayers filing as single can claim deductions up to $30,000; joint filers can claim up to $60,000.

Under the referred measure, those deductions would be capped at $12,000 and $16,000 respectively.

Those making less than $300,000 per year would not see any change in their taxes, according to Healthy School Meals for All.

The program’s cost is estimated at a minimum of $50 million, although the program has a voluntary component for schools and that could impact the cost to the state. Any revenue collected over and above the cost of the program — estimated at $100 million beginning in 2023-24 — would be returned to the general fund.

The revenue generated under HB 1414 would be exempt from the TABOR cap.

Up until this fall, the federal government had been covering lunch costs for all students, regardless of income, as a response to the pandemic. But that ends with the beginning of the 202223 school year, according to Zander Kaschub, an elementary school kitchen manager in Jefferson County who spoke at Thursday’s kickoff. In his school, the number of students taking advantage of free lunches doubled compared to pre- COVID levels, Kaschub said. For some kids, the free meal at school was the only meal they got that day, he said.

When kids are hungry, you can see it, said Genevieve Bassett, a social studies teacher at Alameda Junior/Senior High School in Jefferson County.

“They’re tired, they lack motivation, and they have a hard time concentrating. It also affects their behavior,” she said. Students who are fed perform better in school and have fewer behavioral problems, she said.

Free meals also reduces the shame some students experience when others know they are on existing free and reduced-price lunches, she added.

More than 60,000 students can’t afford school meals and do not qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. The federal program resulted in a 20% to 40% increase in the number of students participating in school meal programs, according to Healthy School Meals for All.

The measure is backed by Hunger Free Colorado, which has already contributed $263,000 in cash and noncash donations, about 99% of the funds collected by the committee backing the measure through July 27.

The second ballot measure referred by the General Assembly is from Senate Bill 222. It would impact the information provided for ballot measures that affect the individual income tax rate.

Under the measure, the fiscal summary would include a tax information table for any citizen-initiated measure that either increases or decreases the individual income tax rate.

That information would show the estimated effect of the initiative on tax owned by individuals in eight different income categories.

DENVER & STATE

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2022-08-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

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https://daily.denvergazette.com/article/281578064441551

The Gazette, Colorado Springs