Kirk Hayes’ farm is eight miles north of the Ferndale School District, but a new bill will make it easier to get food from his farm to the students.

A bill passed by state legislators in Olympia appropriates $1.5 million to better connect schools and other state-run institutions with local farms. More than half of the funding would be allocated toward better connecting schools with local farms. The Local Farms — Healthy Kids bill is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Chris Gregoire.

Hayes, who operates DEVine Gardens, said one significant change will be the ability of local farms to cut the middleman out of the process of dealing with schools and their cafeterias. Currently, he has to go through regional and national nonprofit distributors to supply food to several nearby schools.

Without shipping costs and the requirement that schools buy from those regional and national distributors, both local farmers and schools will benefit from the bill in terms of cost and quality, Hayes said.

“(With the bill), all you have to do is meet insurance standards and show up with the food,” he said. “State schools are very ready for this.”

Mark Dalton, director of nutrition for Bellingham School District, agrees.

“In general, we try to buy as much local food as possible,” said Dalton. “It’s a problem when you can’t just go buy directly from a farmer.”

The bill, which passed both houses with just a single vote against it, requests about $1 million of the total for the Farm to School and low-income snack programs. Other parts of the funding go toward a farm to food bank program and other nutritional programs.

The bill should be a boost to some local farmers, because it’s a good policy to allow schools to prefer local over national foods, said Clayton Burrows, director of Growing Washington, a Whatcom-based nonprofit that helps supply food to school districts.