CO Code § 2-2-2002 (2021)
2021 Colorado Code|Title 2 - Legislative|Article 2 - General Assembly|Part 20 - Legislative Interim Committee on School Finance (Effective Until July 1, 2023)|§ 2-2-2002. Issues to Study - Recommendations to General Assembly - Legislative Declaration

  At a minimum, the interim committee shall study the following issues:   How to modernize the “Public School Finance Act of 1994” to make the school finance formula more transparent, equitable, and student-centered;    Whether the current method for identifying at-risk pupils is an appropriate, accurate method for identifying and weighting students who, because of their life circumstances, are in greater need of services and supports to give them opportunities equal to those of their peers to achieve their academic potential, and, if not, the appropriate method for allocating additional resources to those pupils, which method may be informed by the poverty study commissioned pursuant to section 2-2-2003;    Whether to redesign the allocation of funding in the school finance formula for school district cost-of-living and personnel costs to limit funding to only significantly high-cost school districts though the creation of a fixed amount of additional per pupil funding for high-cost school districts;    The appropriate method to address small, remote, and rural school district funding, including whether a different weight should be applied in the school finance formula for the size factor for small, remote school districts and whether to redesign the distribution of rural school funding received pursuant to section 22-54-142;    Alternative educator support for school districts for teaching students enrolled in kindergarten through second grade; and    The benefits and challenges of incorporating special education services funding into the school finance formula.         The general assembly finds and declares that dramatic differences in local property wealth and the ability of some school districts to obtain voter approval to collect property tax revenue in addition to that provided by total program mill levies has led to inequity in the amount of funding available to serve students in school districts throughout the state. To lessen this inequity, it is appropriate to identify one or more methods by which to support efforts by low-property wealth districts to support the needs of their students through mill levy overrides for operating purposes.    Therefore, in addition to the issues specified in subsection (1) of this section, the interim committee shall design and recommend a program beginning in the 2022-23 budget year to support students by assisting low-property wealth school districts in obtaining voter approval for additional mill levies pursuant to section 22-54-108 by providing state matching money. In designing the program, the interim committee shall consider:   How to address out-of-district students and multi-district online programs that increase a school district's pupil count and total program funding but do not contribute to the collection of property taxes in the school district;    How the mix of residential and non-residential property directly affects assessed values and the amount of property tax revenue collected in the school district due to differences in the assessment rates;    The district mill levy capacity threshold at which school districts would become eligible for state money to match mill levy overrides and how the threshold will impact the number of eligible school districts;    The appropriate number of mills a school district should be levying for total program to be eligible for the program;    The appropriate manner in which to consider institute charter schools located in school districts participating in the program; and    Any other relevant considerations, as determined by the interim committee.       The interim committee may introduce legislation pursuant to section 2-2-2001 to implement the program designed and recommended by the interim committee pursuant to this subsection (2).       Based on the study of issues described in this section, the interim committee may make legislative recommendations to the general assembly addressing how to most accurately meet the educational needs of individual students through the funding of education in Colorado.      History. Source: L. 2021: Entire section added, (HB 21-1325), ch. 376, p. 2485, § 1, effective June 29.