Colorado voters provided a vital boost to the state’s universal school meals program Tuesday night, as two ballot measures directing more funds to the effort cruised to comfortable victories.
Proposition LL, which would allow the meals program to keep more tax money that it’s already collected, had more than 64% support as of 10:27 p.m. Its companion measure, Proposition MM, was also ahead, albeit with a tighter margin with nearly 58% of votes in favor. MM would increase taxes on higher-income earners to further shore up the program.
that MM had won shortly after 8 p.m., and for LL shortly after. Both measures held comfortable margins throughout the night, moving only slightly after the first large batches of votes were reported on the secretary of state’s website.
Together, the ballot measures will direct tens of millions of dollars in new funding to , which was approved by voters in 2022 to feed all students across the state.
The ballot measures will provide a vital shot in the arm for the program, and the results appeared to reaffirm voters' support for it. While the program distributed more than 24 million new meals in just its first year, it has proved more costly than supporters initially believed.
Joe Kabourek, who led the pro-LL and -MM campaign, thanked supporters in a victorious statement Tuesday night.
"Colorado's Healthy School Meals for All program allows schools to provide more than 600,000 free, nutritious meals to students each day, helping students be more engaged and attentive in the classroom," he said. "Propositions LL and MM will keep kids fed in school, leading to better grades, higher graduation rates, and better outcomes for Colorado students."
would allow the meals program to keep money it's already collected. Voter approval was needed under the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights.
will provide an infusion of money for the program by increasing taxes paid by individuals making more than $300,000 annually. It's estimated that MM, by significantly lowering the amount those taxpayers can deduct from their income for state taxes, would raise $95 million per year for school meals.
Despite MM's proposal to raise taxes on wealthy earners, it was garnering majority support over much of the state's populated areas, even in conservative El Paso County, according to early vote totals. In metro Denver, only Douglas County was posting majority opposition.
In August, legislators amended the measure's language so that any excess money would go toward paying for food assistance in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, given recently approved federal cutbacks.
The proposals have been backed by Democratic lawmakers, school districts and a broad swath of advocacy groups, who've said the program had succeeded at its core mission of providing free meals to students across the state.
The money that Props. LL and MM would raise, proponents have said, is sorely needed to support a program that's doled out millions of meals in its first years. Under , the 2022 ballot measure that created the program, the state provided 8 million more breakfasts and 16 million more lunches in the 2023-24 school year than in the prior year, according to state data.
But the program has also proved more costly than initially anticipated, prompting legislators to send LL and MM to the voters.
The measures have been opposed by Republicans, including the Colorado GOP, and the Independence Institute, a libertarian-leaning think tank, which has castigated the program as a financially unsound failure. Still, LL and MM's opponents haven't mounted much of a unified campaign: Their spending committee raised almost nothing -- $1,000 -- and had spent none of it by Tuesday.
A spokesman for the Independence Institute did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.
