Section 22-35-114 - Concurrent enrollment expansion and innovation grant program - created - report - rules - legislative declaration - repeal(1) There is created in the department the concurrent enrollment expansion and innovation grant program to provide grants, subject to available appropriations, to partnering local education providers and institutions of higher education, referred to in this section as a "partnership", that seek to begin offering, or to expand their capacity to offer, concurrent enrollment opportunities to qualified students. A single partnership may include multiple local education providers and multiple institutions of higher education. A partnership that seeks a grant must submit an application to the department in accordance with rules of the state board. The application must include: (a) The number of qualified students, in total and disaggregated by student group, participating in concurrent enrollment in each of the preceding five school years, including the types of postsecondary courses in which qualified students enrolled, including academic and career and technical education courses, which may have included course work related to apprenticeship programs and internship programs; the number of postsecondary credits earned; and whether the postsecondary credits were generally transferable to institutions of higher education throughout the state;(b) The number of qualified students, in total and disaggregated by student group, who applied for concurrent enrollment in each of the preceding five school years but were denied and the reasons for the denials;(c) The financial terms of the cooperative agreement between the members of the partnership;(d) The manner in which the local education provider and the partnering institution of higher education publicize the availability of concurrent enrollment to its students and the amount of counseling provided to students and their parents or legal guardians concerning the costs and benefits of concurrent enrollment and the transferability of credits obtained through concurrent enrollment;(e) A description of the manner in which the partnership plans to use the grant money to expand the number of qualified students concurrently enrolled in postsecondary courses, which may include: (I) Assisting one or more teachers with the cost of obtaining a graduate degree in a specific subject so that the teacher may be certified to teach a postsecondary course at a high school;(II) Removing barriers to concurrent enrollment for qualified students, which may include paying the costs of books, supplies, fees, or transportation;(III) Sharing data between the members of the partnership, which may include purchasing technology software and equipment to assist in the student enrollment process; and(IV) Providing services, support, and coordination resources for concurrent enrollment for either or both members of the partnership; and(f) Any additional information required by rule of the state board, including information that demonstrates the applicant's need for financial support for concurrent enrollment and the likelihood that the applicant's use of the grant will increase the participation of low-income or first-generation qualified students in concurrent enrollment.(2) The department of education in coordination with the department of higher education shall review each grant application received and recommend to the state board applicants that may receive grants and the recommended amount of each grant. Beginning in the 2019-20 school year, subject to available appropriations, the state board, taking into consideration the recommendations of the department of education and the department of higher education, shall award grants to applying partnerships pursuant to this section. In making recommendations and awarding grants, the departments and the state board shall award grants to partnerships that:(a) Do not provide concurrent enrollment or concurrently enroll few qualified students at the time of application;(b) Demonstrate the greatest degree of need for financial support to expand concurrent enrollment, including needs that may arise as a result of a higher-than-anticipated participation rate;(c) Demonstrate the most effective use of the grant money to provide the greatest expansion of concurrent enrollment, which may include expanding by using technological strategies or partnering with the statewide supplemental online and blended learning program described in section 22-5-119 and must include expanding the participation of low-income or first-generation qualified students in concurrent enrollment;(d) Have demonstrated success in providing concurrent enrollment to a large percentage of the qualified students enrolled by the local education providers and are seeking to implement innovations to expand the number of qualified students concurrently enrolled; or(e) Have a plan in place to ensure that course work related to apprenticeship programs and internship programs is eligible to receive transferable postsecondary course credits.(2.5)(a) The general assembly finds and declares that:(I) On March 11, 2021, the federal government enacted the "American Rescue Plan Act of 2021" (ARPA), Pub.L. 117-2, as the act may be subsequently amended, pursuant to which Colorado will receive $3,828,761,790 from the federal coronavirus state fiscal recovery fund to be used for certain specified purposes, including "to respond to the public health emergency with respect to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) or its negative economic impacts, including assistance to households, small businesses, and nonprofits, or aid to impacted industries such as tourism, travel, and hospitality";(II) Under the authority granted pursuant to section 602 (f) of the ARPA, the secretary of the United States treasury adopted regulations providing further guidance to states regarding the authorized uses of the money allocated to states from the federal coronavirus state fiscal recovery fund to respond to the public health emergency or its negative economic impacts, which include: (A) Providing assistance to unemployed workers, including job training for individuals who want to and are available for work;(B) Providing aid to impacted industries to respond to the negative economic impacts of the COVID-19 public health emergency; and(C) Providing programs, services, or other assistance for populations disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 public health emergency, such as programs or services that address or mitigate the impacts of the public health emergency on education;(III) Colorado's economic recovery from the COVID-19 public health emergency requires a skilled workforce which can be strengthened through students completing academic and career and technical education courses and programs, including industry credentials, and by supporting the educator workforce in attaining the credentials necessary to participate in concurrent enrollment partnerships between local education providers and institutions of higher education;(IV) Students from low-income communities, students from communities of color, and first-generation students face increased challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the loss of student and household income in paying for the costs associated with obtaining workforce skills and in completing academic and career and technical education courses and programs, including industry credentials; and(V) Without access to low-cost academic and career and technical education courses and programs to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 public health emergency on students from low-income communities, students from communities of color, and first-generation students, these students may face long-term, negative educational and economic impacts from the COVID-19 public health emergency.(b) Therefore, the general assembly declares that appropriating a portion of the federal money for the concurrent enrollment expansion and innovation grant program created in this section will provide the kind of assistance for which Colorado will receive money from the federal coronavirus state fiscal recovery fund and therefore is an appropriate and lawful use of the money transferred to Colorado under the "American Rescue Plan Act of 2021".(c) This subsection (2.5) is repealed, effective July 1, 2026.(3)(a) Each partnership that receives a grant pursuant to this section shall report to the department of education and the department of higher education the manner in which it uses the grant money and any other information requested by either the department of education or the department of higher education to prepare the report required in subsection (3)(b) of this section.(b) On or before February 1, 2021, and on or before February 1 each year thereafter, the department of education in coordination with the department of higher education shall prepare a report concerning implementation of the concurrent enrollment expansion and innovation grant program. At a minimum, the report must include: (I) The grant recipients and the amount of the grant awarded to each recipient;(II) The manner in which each grant recipient used the grant money received;(III) The number and demographics of the qualified students concurrently enrolled in postsecondary courses in the school years before and after the grant recipient received the grant;(IV) The number of teachers who received a credential using assistance received from a grant;(V) The types of postsecondary courses, including career and technical education courses and any course work related to apprenticeship programs and internship programs, in which qualified students enrolled in the school years before and after the grant recipient received the grant;(VI) The number and transferability of the postsecondary credits earned through concurrent enrollment in the school years before and after the grant recipient received the grant;(VII) The high school graduation rate of each local education provider that participates in the grant program, in total and disaggregated by student group;(VIII) The number of students who participated in concurrent enrollment who completed an associate degree or a certificate from an approved career and technical education program, in total and disaggregated by student group; and(IX) The number of qualified students who participated in concurrent enrollment and matriculated to a two-year or four-year institution, in total and disaggregated by student group.(c) The department shall submit the report to the state board, the department of higher education, the commission, and the education committees of the house of representatives and the senate, or any successor committees. The department shall also post the report on the concurrent enrollment website created pursuant to section 22-35-113.(d) Notwithstanding the requirement in section 24-1-136 (11)(a)(I), the report required in this subsection (3) continues indefinitely.(4)(a) The general assembly may annually appropriate money to the department for grants as provided in this section, including money from the marijuana tax cash fund created in section 39-28.8-501 and money from the state education fund created in section 17 of article IX of the state constitution.(b) The general assembly declares that, for purposes of section 17 of article IX of the state constitution, expansion of concurrent enrollment is an important element in implementing accountable education reform and may therefore receive funding from the state education fund created in section 17 (4) of article IX of the state constitution.(c) Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the contrary, in a budget year in which the general assembly does not appropriate money for grants pursuant to this section, the department and the state board are not required to implement the provisions of this section.Amended by 2021 Ch. 222, § 24, eff. 6/11/2021 but only if HB 21-1264 is enacted and becomes law.Added by 2019 Ch. 244, § 6, eff. 8/2/2019.L. 2019: Entire section added, (SB 19-176), ch. 2384, p. 2384, § 6, effective August 2. L. 2021: (2.5) added, (SB 21-268), ch. 1185, p. 1185, § 24, effective June 11.Section 43 of chapter 222 (SB 21-268), Session Laws of Colorado 2021, provides that the act changing this section takes effect only if HB 21-1264 becomes law. HB 21-1264 became law and took effect June 23, 2021.