The Healthy School Meals for All Program (HSMA) provides funding opportunities for Colorado public school food authorities participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Programs (SBP) via reimbursement for meals provided to students who would otherwise pay full price for a meal. This reports provides an overview of…

Colorado's Healthy School Meals for All (HSMA) program provides free breakfast and lunch to all students, regardless of economic background, and aims to strengthen farm-to-school systems and school food service workers' pay. After unexpected increases in student participation, the program faced a significant budget shortfall that raised warning…

Three primary rounds of COVID relief funding were provided to Colorado between March 2020 and March 2021. These federal funding sources were: (1) the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in March 2020; (2) the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA) Act in December 2020; and (3) the American Rescue…

School of choice has been touted as a solution to the alleged decay of the American educational system. Every year more and more "choice schools" (charter, magnet, expeditionary, and others) open across the United States. Although these schools are subject to the same federal legal requirements as traditional public schools to provide a…

Experiencing hunger can negatively impact a child's health, behavior and overall performance in school. Though substantial progress has been made to increase access to school foods, ensuring adequate time to eat remains to be a challenge for students and schools. We know there are some Colorado schools and districts promoting best practices around…

Background: In the United States, students' experiences are shaped by racioethnic, socioeconomic, and linguistic segregation. School choice, and especially charter schools, generally exacerbate existing levels of school segregation. Counter to this trend, hundreds of intentionally diverse charter schools (IDCS), with a mission to promote school…

This supplemental report explores the developmental needs of Colorado's recent high school graduates, examines the postsecondary success of students who need developmental education and explores equity gaps as they relate to developmental education. It builds upon the report titled "The Postsecondary Progress and Success of High School…

The 2021 "KIDS COUNT in Colorado!" report examines how children fared during the first year of the COVID-19 crisis. The data included in the report illustrate the pandemic's far-reaching effects on Colorado kids, from increased housing instability and hunger to difficulty accessing health care, child care, preschool and K-12 education.…

This year's KIDS COUNT report delves into disparities in child well-being based on race and ethnicity in an effort to shine a light on issues where Colorado can and must do better at creating equitable opportunities for children. The disparities seen in many areas of child well-being did not just happen by coincidence; nor are they the result of…