As a professionally-trained chef who has worked in high-volume restaurants, I have spent the last 12 years bringing that expertise to support school meal programs across the state through my role at Nourish Colorado. Without a doubt, we can make our school nutrition programs stronger. By doing so we can make our children healthier, improving both physical and behavioral health, and helping students achieve academically.

How can we do that? By providing healthy school meals for all, as guaranteed in SB22-087.

A well-run school meal program operates like a restaurant, basing the amount of food they prepare on historical data (i.e., participation trends), minimizing food waste and optimizing their operations. For a variety of reasons – they have meals brought from home, they are embarrassed, they aren’t sure they are eligible, etc. – not all children want or take the meals, and this scenario will not change should the bill pass.

However, passing SB22-087 will reduce the stigma around school meals, and bridge the gap between the number of eligible students versus those who participate.

When I work in schools, one of the first questions I ask of their staff is, “What is your average daily participation (ADP) – how many kids are served – compared to the number of students you have enrolled?” The answer tells me how far we have to go to achieve our goal of getting full participation from the free and reduced-priced meal-eligible students. Since the temporary federal COVID waivers that allow us to provide healthy school meals for all have been in place, ADP is trending higher. That means more children who need food are getting it.

We have about 883,300 Pre-K-through-12 students. If we look at past participation trends for free and reduced-price eligible students, about two-thirds of kids who are eligible participate and take a school meal. Sadly, that leaves more than 120,000 students not eating, even though they can receive a free meal. Many of these are students who don’t want to face shame and stigma in the lunch line, and they go without the nutritious food they need to learn.

Today, we are seeing up to a 40% increase in some districts in students eating school meals because what we know works is in place. When school meals are available without shame or stigma, students who need meals eat.

But once the federal COVID waiver expires, we do not want to go back.

There are many students who fall just outside the threshold for meeting the income-eligibility requirements. For a family of four to receive school meals, their income must be $49,025 or lower. Considering that the cost of living in Colorado today for a family of four is $75,000 (and more every day with inflation and rising housing prices), these income eligibility guidelines are missing a huge percent of our population. When the current universal meals programs end – and it looks like they will end this spring – many of these students will be without access to nutritious meals.

SB22-087 does not pay schools to serve a meal to every single student. It looks to maximize federal reimbursements and create easier access to school meals for those students who need it. Our school meal operators are adept at navigating increases in participation, balancing the amount of food prepared and managing waste concerns, all while still allowing students the ability to choose to either eat a school lunch or not.

As the numbers show, when we have healthy school meals available to all students, it benefits the entire school community. It is our responsibility to make sure Colorado students can learn, and a key component of that is having food. I know this as I work to make it so every day.

Senate Bill 87 will ensure that every child in every school who needs a meal can get a healthy one. Let’s make our school nutrition programs stronger and our children healthier; let’s pass this important bill.

Jessica Wright is Healthy Food in Institutions senior programs and policy manager for Nourish Colorado