COMMERCE CITY — A bill to help make sure more Colorado schoolkids get a decent breakfast was signed into law May 15 by Gov. John Hickenlooper at Rose Hill Elementary School.
House Bill 1006, sponsored by Commerce City Democrat Rep. Dominick Moreno and state Rep. Rony Exum, D-Colorado Springs, will phase in a requirement to serve breakfast to all students after the official start of school at Colorado schools with a high concentration of students who qualify for free or reduced cost lunch.
Starting with the 2014-15 school year, Colorado schools with 80 percent or more of the students qualifying for free or reduced-cost lunch will be mandated to provide after-the-bell breakfast, while the bill kicks into effect for the 2015-16 school year at schools with 70 percent or more of students qualifying for free or reduced-cost lunch.
“Breakfast after the bell gives students from low-income families an equal chance to learn and succeed,” said Moreno, who himself qualified for free in-school meals as a student growing up in Commerce City. He went on to become valedictorian of his high school class.
Studies have shown that hungry children don’t learn as well as their better-fed peers. Despite federal programs to provide free and reduced-cost meals, many students who qualify don’t arrive at school in time to eat as part of the before-school program. Other students over the years attributed the stigma of acknowledging that their families are too poor to feed them as reason to avoid the before-school program.
Adams 14 School District piloted Breakfast in the Classroom at one of their schools in 2010 and expanded it districtwide following success — switching to an after-the-bell meal saw the participation rate for qualifying students rise from 30 percent to 98 percent. More than 87 percent of Adams 14 students eat breakfast after the bell.
“This is a significant part of making sure our students get a good education,” Rep. Exum said.
The vast majority of the cost of the after-the-bell breakfast program is covered by an existing federal program for students from low-income households.
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Meal planning
