Durango schools serve free meals. A November vote could change that.

DURANGO, Colo. — Durango School District will continue serving free breakfast and lunch to all students through December 2025, but the future of the program depends on voter approval this fall.

The district participates in Colorado’s Healthy School Meals for All program, which launched in the 2023-24 school year. Funded by limiting state income tax deductions for residents earning more than $300,000 annually, the program has exceeded expectations. Meal participation rose by more than 30%, saving families an estimated $1,250 per child each year.

But demand has outpaced funding. The program raised $100 million in its first year but ran into a $56 million shortfall. To address the gap, two measures will appear on the November 2025 ballot:

If approved, the statewide measures could generate more than $95 million annually. Without new funding, the free meal program may be scaled back.

Durango School District serves about 5,000 students across 10 schools. During the school year, the district provides breakfast to approximately 2,000 students and serves lunch to approximately 3,500, according to Matthew Poling, the district’s director of food and nutrition services.

The district also offers a free summer lunch program open to all community members.

Poling said that if the ballot measures fail, nine of the district’s 10 schools would still qualify for the federal Community Eligibility Provision program, which reimburses meals for schools where at least 25% of students are considered low-income or vulnerable. That includes students on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, foster students, migrant children and homeless or runaway youth. However, federal reimbursement often does not cover the full cost, leaving schools to absorb the difference.

“I don’t think there’s any plan for the national school lunch program to go away. I mean, it would be catastrophic for millions of students. But as far as the state goes, if the ballot issue does not pass, we would go back to the way it was, which is free and reduced students get a free meal and full pay students will pay the full price,” Poling said.

Breakfast costs $3 and lunch is $5 — likely the cheapest meals available in Durango, Poling said.

After three years in Durango and with two daughters enrolled in the school district, Poling said he has witnessed how important free school meals are to the community.

“For the federal program, my reimbursement for a meal is the same as a rural Ohio school district is getting. A family of four making $100,000 in rural Ohio might be doing okay and maybe they don’t need a free lunch. Whereas a family of four making $100,000 in Durango might be a drastically different scenario. The free meal at school might be the difference between whether they make their rent that month or car payment,” he said.

Delilah Woody, a mother of four in the Durango district, said she values the free meal program, which she believes provides balanced meals her children enjoy. Without it, she said, she could not afford to feed all four at school.

“There is a trope in our industry: the meal that a child eats at a school might be their only healthy meal. It’s unfortunate, but true,” said Poling.