© 2024
NPR for Northern Colorado
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Faith-Based Groups Promise to Pay School Breakfast Funding Gap

Students at Tavelli Elementary in Fort Collins stand in line for waffles and sausage.
Grace Hood
Students at Tavelli Elementary in Fort Collins stand in line for waffles and sausage.

The future of state funding for a breakfast program benefiting Colorado’s needy children is uncertain, but one Colorado Springs collation says it will help if lawmakers can’t. 

Last month the Joint Budget Committee blocked a request by the Colorado Department of Education for $124,000 in supplemental money for the program. That means kids might have to start paying 30 cents a meal after March when the funding runs out.

After that decision, at least two members who voted against the request to cut funding said they’ll reconsider. But that process won’t start until later this month.

Stepping into this uncertain situation is a coalition of faith-based groups in Colorado Springs. Late last week they offered to provide the $124,000 needed if the state can’t allocate the money this spring.

Democratic lawmakers have announced plans to introduce legislation to restore school breakfast funding. But so far they haven’t set a date for when that will happen.