The office of the state architect and the department of transportation are each required to establish policies regarding the global warming potential for specific categories of eligible materials used to construct certain public projects.The office of the state architect is required to establish a maximum acceptable global warming potential for each category of eligible material used in certain public projects under its purview. The act specifies which building materials are eligible materials. The office of the state architect is required to base the maximum acceptable global warming potential on the industry average of global warming potential emissions for that material and to express it as a number that states the maximum acceptable global warming potential for each category of eligible material.The department of transportation is required to develop policies to determine, track, and record greenhouse gas emissions for each category of eligible materials used in certain public projects under its purview in a manner consistent with criteria in an environmental product declaration.The office of the state architect and the department of transportation are both required to strive to achieve continuous reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in construction materials over time for the projects under their purview.For solicitations for certain public projects under the purview of the office of the state architect or the department of transportation issued after certain dates, the contractor that is awarded the contract is required to submit a current environmental product declaration for each eligible material proposed to be used in the public project.A contractor that is awarded a contract for certain public projects is prohibited from installing any eligible material on the project until the contractor submits an environmental product declaration for that material. If an environmental product declaration is not available for an eligible material, the contractor shall notify the relevant agency of government and install an alternative eligible material with an environmental product declaration. However, if a product meeting the policy requirements for a category of eligible materials is not reasonably priced or is not available to the contractor on a reasonable basis, the relevant agency of government may waive the requirement that the contractor submit an environmental product declaration for that eligible material before installing it.The office of the state architect and the department of transportation are required to annually report to the general assembly regarding the implementation of the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act prohibits the use of American Indian mascots (mascots) by public schools, including charter and institute charter schools, and public institutions of higher education (public school) as of June 1, 2022. The act imposes a fine of $25,000 per month for each month that a public school continues to use a mascot after such date, payable to the state education fund.The prohibition does not apply to:Any agreement that exists prior to June 30, 2021, between a federally recognized Indian tribe (tribe) and a public school, although the tribe has the right and ability to revoke the agreement at any time; Any public school that is operated by a tribe or with the approval of a tribe and existing within the boundaries of the tribe's reservation; and The ability of a tribe to create and maintain a relationship or agreement with a public school that fosters goodwill, emphasizes education and supports a curriculum that teaches American Indian history, and encourages a positive cultural exchange. Any such agreement may allow any mascot that is culturally affiliated with the tribe, as determined at the discretion of the tribe's governing body. The Colorado commission of Indian affairs shall identify each public school in the state that is using an American Indian mascot and that does not meet the criteria for an exemption and post such information on the commission's website. In addition to posting such information on its website, the commission, in coordination with the department of education, shall notify the school district of a public school, and the charter school institute, identified by the commission of the requirements related to the use of American Indian mascots, as well as the penalty for continued used of such mascots.The act allows those schools that are using American Indian mascots to apply for state financial assistance for public school capital construction grants.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates in the department of agriculture the agricultural drought and climate resilience office (office). The office may provide voluntary technical assistance, nonregulatory programs, and incentives that increase the ability to anticipate, prepare for, mitigate, adapt to, and respond to hazardous events, trends, or disturbances related to drought or the climate. The commissioner of agriculture shall appoint the head of the office and may adopt rules necessary for the office's administration after convening a stakeholder group.Except for a program or support administered by the office to address immediate needs as a result of disaster, including wildfire and drought, or a program that was in existence on January 1, 2021:A program administered by the office must be designed to benefit bona fide agricultural producers actively engaged in agriculture; Grants awarded by the office must pay for implementation of practices to address and mitigate the impacts of climate change or drought or to provide direct adaptation support for impacted agricultural communities; and Grants must receive final approval by the state agricultural commission before a final award can be issued. The act:Annually transfers $500,000 from the severance tax operational fund to the agriculture value-added cash fund until July 1, 2029; and Appropriates $101,333 from that fund to the department of agriculture to implement the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
In the 2020-21 state fiscal year, the act transfers $25 million from the general fund as follows:Section 1 transfers $750,000 to the Colorado avalanche information center fund for use by the Colorado avalanche information center in the department of natural resources (department) to support backcountry avalanche safety programs; Section 2 transfers $3.5 million to the wildlife cash fund for use by the division of parks and wildlife (division) in the department to implement its statewide wildlife action plan and the conservation of native species; Section 3 transfers $2.25 million to the search and rescue fund for use by the department of local affairs in consultation with the division to support backcountry search and rescue efforts; Section 4 transfers $1 million to the outdoor equity fund for use by the division to implement the outdoor equity grant program; and Section 5 transfers $17.5 million to the parks and outdoor recreation cash fund for use by the division as follows: $3.5 million for staffing and maintenance projects; and $14 million for infrastructure and state park development projects. Section 6 appropriates the amounts transferred in sections 1 to 5 to the department and the department of local affairs for the uses specified in sections 1 to 5 and authorizes the use of the money through the 2023-24 state fiscal year.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Current law limits the content areas in which a person who holds an adjunct instructor authorization may teach. The act allows a school district or charter school to employ a person who holds an adjunct instructor authorization to teach in all content areas in order to address recruiting challenges and establish a diverse workforce.The act requires the department of education (department) to direct resources to publicize existing teacher preparation programs to facilitate entry into the teaching profession. The act also requires the department to provide technical support to school districts, boards of cooperative services, and charter schools to assist them in accessing the existing programs and in recruiting individuals to pursue teaching careers.The act requires the department of higher education, in collaboration with the department of education, the state board for community colleges and occupational education, and the deans of the schools of education and academic administrators in Colorado institutions of higher education, or their designees, to design a teaching career pathway for individuals to enter the teaching profession. The act outlines the components of the teaching career pathway program.The act creates the teacher recruitment education and preparation program (TREP program) in the department. Two of the main objectives of the TREP program are to increase the number of students entering the teaching profession and to create a more diverse teacher workforce to reflect the ethnic diversity of the state. A qualified TREP program participant may concurrently enroll in postsecondary courses in the 2 years directly following the year in which the participant was enrolled in the twelfth grade of a local education provider. The act outlines the selection criteria and requirements for the TREP program.The act creates the educator recruitment and retention program (ERR program) in the department to provide support to members of the armed forces, nonmilitary-affiliated educator candidates, and local education providers to recruit, select, train, and retain highly qualified educators across the state. The state board of education shall promulgate rules to implement the ERR program. The act outlines the eligibility criteria and program services.The act adds criteria for the commission on higher education to select eligible applicants for the educator loan forgiveness program.The act requires the university of Colorado health and sciences center to establish and operate an educator well-being and mental health program to provide support services for educators serving students in Colorado's public elementary and secondary schools.For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, $9,132,856 is appropriated from the general fund to the department of education to implement the act. For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, $942,542 is appropriated from the general fund to the department of higher education to implement the act. For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, $2,500,000 is appropriated from the general fund to the educator loan forgiveness fund. The department of higher education is responsible for the accounting related to the appropriation for the educator loan forgiveness fund.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act extends the renewal period for professional teacher, special services educator, principal, and administrator licenses from 5 to 7 years. The act allows for a professional teacher, special services educator, principal, or administrator who is partially through the current 5-year licensing cycle to have that extended to 7 years for that particular cycle.The act makes the following appropriations through adjustments to the long bill:The cash funds appropriation from the educator licensure cash fund made in the annual general appropriation act for the 2021-22 state fiscal year to the department of education for the office of professional services is decreased by $292,532, and the related FTE is decreased by 4.0 FTE. For the 2021-22 state fiscal year, $2,922,976 is appropriated to the department of education. This appropriation is from the general fund. To implement this act, the department may use this appropriation for the office of professional services. Any money appropriated not expended prior to July 1, 2022, is further appropriated to the department for the 2022-23 state fiscal year for the same purpose.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act makes changes to the "Public school finance act of 1994" (school funding formula) increasing the statewide base per pupil funding for the 2021-22 budget year by $141.67 to account for inflation of 2% for a new statewide base per pupil funding amount of $7,225.28, and sets the minimum statewide district total program funding amount for the 2021-22 budget year and requires the dollar amount of the budget stabilization factor to remain the same for the 2022-23 budget year.The act authorizes the state board of education (state board) to take action against an educator license, certificate, endorsement, or authorization if the educator is convicted of an offense under the laws of another state, the United States, or any territory subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, the elements of which are substantially similar to a felony drug offense described in part 4 of article 18 of title 18, Colorado Revised Statutes.The act extends to 18 months the length of the accreditation contract entered into between the state board and each school district board of education (local school board) and the state charter school institute for the 2021-22 school year.The act extend by one month the deadline for a local school board to certify to the state board mileage for reimbursement from the public school transportation fund and for the state board to certify to the state treasurer the amount of reimbursements from the public school transportation fund.The act changes the period of time in which the department of education (department) may establish an alternative pupil count day to within 45 school days after the first school day.The act allows local education providers to carry forward more than 15% of the per-pupil intervention money received pursuant to the "Colorado READ Act" for the 2020-21 budget year for use in the 2021-22 budget year.The act adjusts the amount of additional funding authorized in Senate Bill 21-053 that is available to school districts that fully fund total program with local revenue.The act authorizes a school district that operated a district preschool program pursuant to the "Colorado Preschool Program Act" in the 2019-20 school year with a waiver to serve children under 3 years of age to continue in subsequent school years to use the same number of preschool positions to serve children under 3 years of age who have multiple significant family risk factors.The act extends the budget deadlines for the 2021-22 budget year for school districts and local college districts.The act makes permanent statutory provisions that allow school district charter schools that convert to institute charter schools or institute charter schools that convert to school district charter schools to continue to receive funding for at-risk students using the funding formulas that applied to the charter schools prior to the conversion.For the 2021-22 school year, the act prohibits a local school board from reviewing or making revisions to an existing innovation school plan, innovation school zone, or a public school included in an innovation school zone, pursuant to the innovation school and zone review and revision process. Further, the local school board shall not make any revisions to an existing innovation school or innovation school zone plan that have not been approved before the effective date of this act.The act removes the $10 million annual cap on appropriations for the school counselor corps grant program.The act requires a board of cooperative services (BOCES) that intends to locate or operate a authorize a full-time BOCES school or an additional location of an existing school that is physically located within the geographic boundaries of a school district that is not a member of the BOCES during the 2021-22 school year to obtain written permission from the school district in which the school will be operated or located. The requirement for written consent does not apply to a BOCES school that is authorized or operating prior to the effective date of the act.The act requires school districts and institute charter schools to address chronic absenteeism and disproportionate disciplinary practices in order to provide support to students who are identified as at risk of chronic absenteeism and disciplinary actions, including classroom removal, suspension, and expulsion. The act amends the expelled and at-risk student services grant program to focus on services for students identified as at risk of dropping out of school due to chronic absenteeism and disciplinary actions.The act amends the Colorado imagination library program to align the public relations campaign with "Colorado READ Act" campaigns and requires the contractor administering the program to provide a high-quality independent evaluation of the impact of the program on child and family outcomes and to establish a distressed affiliate fund for county-based affiliate programs. The act establishes the intent of the general assembly to provide full funding for free books for eligible children by 2026. The act amends the definition of "local public body" in the public open meetings statute to refer to school districts, which are the local public bodies, rather than school boards. The act declares that the use of federal funding under the "American Rescue Plan Act of 2021" to provide programs, services, and other assistance to populations disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 public health emergency to mitigate the impacts of the public health emergency through the concurrent enrollment and innovation grant program and the career development success program are allowable uses of the federal funding.The act declares the general assembly's intention in making changes to the school finance formula commencing with the 2021-22 budget year, as follows:Modifies at-risk funding by adding pupils who are eligible for reduced-price lunch under the federal school lunch program, in addition to the free-lunch pupils in the existing definition, and removes the subset of English language learners who are currently included in the at-risk pupil count from the definition of "at-risk pupils"; Adds a new English language learner funding factor to the school finance formula for all English language learners included in the prior year's pupil enrollment. The factor is 8% of per pupil funding multiplied by the English language learner enrollment. as defined in the act. Makes corresponding changes to the calculation of district total program funding, minimum per pupil funding, and the minimum per pupil funding base to reflect the school finance formula changes relating to English language learner factor funding; and Makes a corresponding change to the statutory district total program amount to reflect the changes to the at-risk funding factor and the addition of the English language learner funding factor. The act authorizes the use of appropriations for the accelerating students through concurrent enrollment (ASCENT) program for the 2021-22 budget year.The act removes the $27 million appropriation in the 2021 long bill from the state education fund to the English language learners professional development and student support program.The act appropriates:$505,743,696 to the department from the general fund for the state share of districts' total program funding; $400,000 from the state public school fund for school finance audit payments; $2,000,000 from the state education fund for the school counselor corps grant program; $2,200,444 from the general fund to the department to restore funding to the following grant programs that had appropriations reduced or eliminated for the 2020-21 fiscal year: $800,000 and 0.6 FTE for the ninth grade success program; $375,807 for the school leadership program; $280,730 for the accelerated college opportunity exam fee grant program; $250,000 and 0.3 FTE for the John W. Buckner automatic enrollment in advanced placement courses grant program; and $493,907 and 0.4 FTE for the local accountability systems grant program. $2,500,000 from the marijuana cash tax fund and 1.0 FTE for the K-5 social and emotional health pilot program; $3,000,000 from the marijuana cash tax fund for the behavioral health care professional matching grant program; $2,000,000 for mill levy equalization for institute charter schools; $1,750,000 to the concurrent enrollment expansion and innovation grant program and $1,750,000 for the career development success program from federal money in the workers, employers, and workforce centers cash fund; and $410,221 to the department from the general fund for the Colorado imagination library program.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the department of education (department) to create and maintain an online resource bank of materials and resources pertaining to media literacy. At a minimum, the resource bank must include the materials and resources recommended in the media literacy advisory committee's report. The department shall promulgate rules, if necessary, to implement a procedure through which a person may provide comment on a material or resource within the resource bank, including a comment recommending the removal or inclusion of a material or resource within the resource bank.The act requires the department, upon the request of a school district, district charter school, institute charter school, or board of cooperative services, and subject to available resources, to provide technical assistance to a school district, district charter school, institute charter school, or board of cooperative services with implementing policies and procedures, best practices, and recommendations related to media literacy.The act clarifies that a school district, district charter school, institute charter school, or board of cooperative services is not required to adopt or implement any material or resource from the resource bank into its curriculum.The act requires the state board of education to review and adopt revisions that implement media literacy within reading, writing, and civics standards.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act removes the residency requirements for student members to serve on the board of trustees for Western Colorado university.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the outdoor recreation industry office in the office of economic development. The director of the outdoor recreation industry office is designated by and reports to the director of the office of economic development.The outdoor recreation industry office serves as a central coordinator of outdoor recreation industry matters.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)