The act adjusts various requirements applicable to the "Colorado Loans for Increasing Main Street Business Economic Recovery Act" (program) that provides small business recovery loans to Colorado businesses, funded in part through the sale of insurance premium tax credits. The act: Extends the period through which the program can issue capital for the loan program through fiscal year 2023-24; Increases the amount of capital that can be issued in the last 3 fiscal years of the program without increasing the total amount that can be issued for the life of the program; Lowers the minimum amount of a loan to a small business from $30,000 to $10,000; Lengthens the maximum initial maturity of a loan to a small business from 5 years to 10 years; Changes the requirements for an eligible borrower to require one year of positive cash flow instead of 2, and at least one employee instead of at least 5 employees; Clarifies the benchmarks that apply to the program for making loans to businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals; Extends the time for the program to issue tax credits through state fiscal year 2022-23; Extends the period through which the program can issue tax credits through fiscal year 2022-23 without changing the total amount of tax credits that can be issued over the life of the program; Allows tax credits issued in fiscal years 2021-22 and 2022-23 to be claimed on a schedule beginning in a taxable year that begins on or after January 1, 2023; and Removes a requirement that if additional state or federal money is appropriated or allocated to the program, the value of the tax credits authorized by the program must be reduced by the same amount.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Sponsored bills
For the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years, the act prohibits a school district or board of cooperative services from using measures of student academic growth derived from the Colorado growth model or from considering the performance plan type implemented by the school district or board of cooperative services or by a school in determining evaluation ratings for licensed personnel. For the 2022-23 budget year, the act appropriates $21,265 from the general fund to the department of education to implement the act. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the state board of health in the department of public health and environment, with regard to nursing care facilities and assisted living residences, and the medical services board in the department of health care policy and financing, with regard to adult day care facilities, to adopt rules requiring these facilities to provide dementia training for staff providing direct-care services to clients and residents of the facilities. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act adds educators to the list of protected persons whose personal information may be withheld from the internet if the protected person believes dissemination of such information poses an imminent and serious threat to the protected person or the safety of the protected person's immediate family. Under current law, the "Colorado Open Records Act" (CORA) definition of "personnel file" does not include the specific date of an educator's absence from work. The act amends the CORA definition of "personnel file" to include the specific date of an educator's absence from work. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires all public higher education institutions (institutions) in Colorado to provide to Colorado resident students who have been in foster care or, following an adjudication as neglected or dependent, in noncertified kinship care in Colorado at any time on or after reaching the age of 13 (qualifying students), financial assistance for the remaining balance of the student's total cost of attendance in excess of the amount of any private, state, or federal financial assistance received by the student (remaining balance financial assistance). Subject to available appropriations, the act requires the Colorado commission on higher education to provide to an institution money to cover 50 percent of the remaining balance financial assistance provided by the institution to qualifying students. The institutions are required to designate an employee to serve as a liaison to qualifying and prospective qualifying students. The act requires the department of higher education to designate four full-time equivalent employees as foster care student navigators to provide guidance to prospective qualifying students with selecting institutions and programs and to assist students with completing an institution's application for admission, the free application for federal student aid, and, if eligible, the application for a Chafee ETV grant. School district and state charter school institute child welfare education liaisons are required to provide students in out-of-home placement with information and assistance regarding remaining balance financial assistance for qualifying students. The act appropriates $2,610,575 from the general fund to the department of higher education for aid for foster students. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The bill creates the student educator stipend program. The purpose of the student educator stipend program is to award stipend money to an eligible student to reduce the financial barriers of participating in required clinical practice as a student educator. An eligible student placed as a student educator in a 16-week academic residency may receive a stipend of $11,000, and an eligible student placed as a student educator in a 32-week academic residency may receive a stipend of $22,000. The bill also creates the educator test stipend program. The purpose of the educator test stipend program is to award stipend money to approved programs of preparation to reduce financial barriers for eligible students preparing for the assessment of professional competencies for licensure and each required endorsement area. The approved program of preparation shall distribute the stipend money to an eligible student to pay the fees and costs associated with the assessment of professional competencies, which may include travel and lodging costs. The bill creates the temporary educator loan forgiveness program. The purpose of the program is to pay the qualified loans of an educator who is hired for a hard-to-staff educator position. To qualify for the program, an educator must meet licensure requirements, enter the educator workforce on or after the 2019-20 state fiscal year and contract for a qualified position no later than the end of the 2021-22 state fiscal year, and be liable for an outstanding balance on a qualified loan. An educator who qualifies is eligible for up to $5,000 in loan forgiveness. The bill requires the department of education (department), in collaboration with the department of higher education, and institutions of higher education, the state board for community colleges and occupational education, and school districts, to create a recommend to the state board of education the standards and procedures necessary to implement the multiple measures approach to measure the professional competencies of an applicant for an initial teacher license, in addition to the assessments currently approved by the state board of education. The state board of education shall promulgate rules to establish the standards and procedures to measure professional competencies through the multiple measures approach.Current law allows the department to issue a temporary educator eligibility authorization to a person enrolled in an approved program of preparation for a special education educator license who has not yet met the requirements for the applicable initial educator license. The bill allows the department to issue a temporary educator eligibility authorization an interim authorization to a person enrolled in an approved alternative teacher preparation program who is seeking an alternative teacher license and meets the requirements for an alternative teacher license, except that the person has not yet met the requirements for the applicable initial educator license.For the 2022-23 state fiscal year, $52 million is appropriated to the department of higher education from the economic recovery and relief cash fund to be distributed to the following programs: $39 million for the student educator stipend program; $3 million for the educator test stipend program; and $10 million for the temporary educator loan forgiveness program. For the 2022-23 state fiscal year, $720,612 is appropriated to the department from the general fund to implement the purposes of the bill. (Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.) (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)
Current law requires a peace officer to be a bona fide Colorado resident. The act removes that requirement. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act finds that current economic conditions have increased the amount of revenue available to the state for the 2022-23 budget year, allowing the state to increase the amount of appropriation for the state's share of total program funding for school districts and institute charter schools, thereby mitigating the impact of the budget stabilization factor. Additionally, it finds there is uncertainty concerning the continuity and longevity of these current economic conditions and whether high property values and increased revenue will continue. The act: Increases the statewide base per pupil funding for the 2022-23 budget year by $252.88, to account for inflation of 3.5%, to a new statewide base per pupil funding amount of $7,478.16; and Sets the total program funding for the 2022-23 budget year for all school districts and institute charter schools after application of the budget stabilization factor to not less than $8,422,216,159. The act permits a public school one year to discontinue the prohibited use of an American Indian mascot if the public school was first notified of the prohibited use on or after May 1, 2022. The act extends by six months the requirement for a board of cooperative services (BOCES) to obtain written permission from the school district in which a school operates or is located if the BOCES intends to authorize the school and the school is physically located within the geographic boundaries of a school district that is not a member of the BOCES. The act extends by one year the ability for local education providers to carry forward more than 15% of per-pupil intervention money received pursuant to the "Colorado READ Act". The act extends by one year the local accountability system grant program and the requirement that the department of education (department) contract with an external evaluator to evaluate the implementation of the local accountability systems. The act makes an appropriation of $100,000 for this evaluation. The act extends by one year the completion of the pilot program to develop and use screening and identification processes and intervention strategies for early identification of and support for students enrolled in kindergarten through third grade who may have dyslexia. The act states that, if a school district permits a student whose parent or guardian is a resident of the state but not a resident of the district to attend school in the district, the school district shall not require the parent, guardian, or student to pay tuition to attend school in the district, regardless of when during the school year, or under what circumstances, the student enrolls in or attends school in the district. The act allows contingency reserve fund payments for rural or small rural school districts for the 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24 budget years if an unusual financial burden would be caused by the withholding of local property taxes due to a delay in filing a required audit report due to extraordinary problems that could not have been reasonably foreseen or prevented by the district. The act requires the department to issue a separate school code for certain programs. The act act expands authorization for financial assistance through the educator recruitment and retention program to include applicants agreeing to teach for 3 years in educator shortage areas in the state. The act permits a vendor that contracts with the department to develop a quality teacher recruitment program, and commits to satisfying the requirement to match 100% of the money paid by the department for the contract through gifts, grants, or donations from private donors, to also accept gifts, grants, donations, or other pledges of money from school districts or local governments. The act removes the department's authority to reallocate money among participating schools under the school food purchasing program. The act extends by one year the K-5 social and emotional health pilot program and amend the requirements for school mental health professionals participating in the pilot program. The act permits 20% of the money appropriated for the Colorado imagination library program to be used by the contractor for operating costs. The act: Removes the limit on the number of accelerating students through concurrent enrollment (ASCENT) program participants, and allows each qualified student selected to participate in the program; Reduces the number of postsecondary credits a qualified student must have completed to be eligible to participate in the ASCENT program; and Repeals the requirement that a student who fails to complete a concurrent enrollment course must repay the amount of tuition to the local education provider and repeals a provision permitting a local education provider to require a student who receives a failing grade to repay the tuition amount of a concurrent enrollment. The act, as amended by S.B. 22-202, transfers $290 million from the general fund to the state education fund. The act clarifies the state assessments that a local education provider may decide whether students will use pencil and paper rather than a computer. The act makes an appropriation of: $184,125,900 to the department, consisting of $2,101,985 from the general fund and $182,023,915 from the state education fund; $1 million to the department for charter school institute mill levy equalization fund; $127,973 for the dyslexia markers pilot program; $43,113 to the department for college and career readiness; and $25,000 for information technology services.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act continues the existing school leadership pilot program (program) by repealing the repeal date for the program and removing the word "pilot" from the name of the program. The act repeals the ability of the department of education (department) to award grants to the employers of school principals who participate in the program and limits the amount that the general assembly may annually appropriate for the program to no more than $250,000. For the 2022-23 budget year, the act appropriates $250,000 to the department to implement the program. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act specifies the duties of the department of education (department) related to licensed personnel performance evaluation systems, including the following duties, which the department must comply with by the beginning of the 2023-24 school year: Creating a modified rubric for evaluating personnel who are consistently rated highly effective; Creating specialized rubrics for particular teacher or principal roles; Providing free evaluator training for school districts and boards of cooperative services (BOCES); Providing guidelines for incorporating a licensed person's professional growth achievements into the evaluation; and Providing best practices in methods of conducting evaluations. The act directs the state board of education (state board) to adopt rules as necessary to ensure that, beginning with evaluations completed in the 2023-24 school year: 30% of a teacher's or principal's evaluation is based on the academic growth of students, and the remainder is based on the teacher's or principal's attainment of quality standards; Of that 30%, up to 10% of a teacher's or principal's evaluation may be based on measures of collective student academic growth for a particular grade level or for an entire school, but the evaluation must not include measures of collective student academic growth for students who are not enrolled in the school at which the teacher or principal is employed; and If a licensed person has been employed by a school district or BOCES for one year or less, the person's evaluation must not include data created before the licensed person's employment began. School districts and BOCES are encouraged to experiment with innovative methods of conducting observations for licensed personnel evaluations and train multiple persons to serve as evaluators. A school district or BOCES must complete the licensed personnel evaluations within the school year for which the person is evaluated and report the performance ratings to the department by October 15 of the next school year. For the 2022-23 fiscal year, the act appropriates $452,973 from the general fund to the department. Of that amount: $343,059 is for educator effectiveness unit administration; $90,200 is for information technology services; and $19,714 is for legal services and is reappropriated to the department of law.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)