CO Code § 22-54-129 (2021)
2021 Colorado Code|Title 22 - Education|Article 54 - Public School Finance Act of 1994|§ 22-54-129. Facility School Funding - Definitions - Legislative Declaration

  As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:   “Approved facility school” shall have the same meaning as provided in section 22-2-402 (1).    “Department” means the department of education created and operating pursuant to section 24-1-115, C.R.S.    “Facility” shall have the same meaning as provided in section 22-2-402 (3).    “Pupil enrollment” means the number of students receiving educational services at the approved facility school or state program on the pupil enrollment count day of the applicable budget year.  (d.5) “Pupil enrollment count day” has the same meaning as set forth in section 22-54-103 (10.5).     Repealed.    “State program” means the Colorado school for the deaf and the blind or the education program operated by the Colorado mental health institute at Pueblo or Fort Logan for students for whom the institute has responsibility because of a court order or other action by a public entity in Colorado.    “Statewide base per pupil funding” means the amount annually specified in section 22-54-104 (5)(a).         The general assembly finds that:   The unique environments of approved facility schools and state programs and the population of students that they serve create obstacles to learning and academic growth that other public schools and students do not encounter;    Because approved facility schools and state programs must operate year-round, their need for funding remains constant year-round; and    Although students in approved facility schools may or may not be economically at-risk, the circumstances that have resulted in their placement in approved facility schools and state programs make it likely that they are academically at-risk and require costly educational support services to achieve academic growth.       The general assembly finds, therefore, that it is appropriate to fund approved facility schools and state programs:   By an additional one-third above the statewide base per pupil funding amount to recognize the increased costs of educating students in approved facility schools and state programs year-round; and    By an additional forty percent above the statewide base per pupil funding amount to offset the increased costs inherent in providing education services to the students who are placed in approved facility schools and state programs.         For the 2008-09 budget year through the 2012-13 budget year, each approved facility school and state program that meets the requirements of this section shall receive education program funding, which shall be distributed pursuant to subsection (4) of this section. The amount of funding available for all approved facility schools and state programs in a budget year shall be an amount equal to the pupil enrollment of each approved facility school and state program for the applicable budget year multiplied by an amount equal to one and one-third of the state average per pupil revenue for the applicable budget year. (c) (I) For the 2008-09 budget year through the 2012-13 budget year, each approved facility school and state program that meets the requirements of this section shall receive education program funding, which shall be distributed pursuant to subsection (4) of this section. The amount of funding available for all approved facility schools and state programs in a budget year shall be an amount equal to the pupil enrollment of each approved facility school and state program for the applicable budget year multiplied by an amount equal to one and one-third of the state average per pupil revenue for the applicable budget year.    For the 2013-14 budget year and each budget year thereafter, each approved facility school and state program that meets the requirements of this section must receive education program funding, which must be distributed pursuant to subsection (4) of this section. The amount of funding available for all approved facility schools and state programs in a budget year is an amount equal to the pupil enrollment of each approved facility school and state program for the applicable budget year multiplied by an amount equal to one and seventy-three hundredths of the statewide base per pupil funding for the applicable budget year.          To receive education program funding pursuant to this section, an approved facility school or a state program shall submit its pupil enrollment for the applicable budget year to the department on or before November 10, 2008, and on or before October 5 of each budget year thereafter.      In addition to the requirements of subsection (3) of this section, on or before the fifteenth day of each month, an approved facility school or a state program shall report to the department, in a manner to be determined by the department, the actual number of students who received educational services at the approved facility school or through the state program during the prior calendar month and the corresponding number of full-time equivalent students to which the approved facility school or state program provided such services. The department may accept amended monthly reports from an approved facility school or a state program prior to making the distribution of funding for the applicable month pursuant to paragraph (b) of this subsection (4).    On or before the fifteenth day of the month following the month in which an approved facility school or a state program reported the number of students to which it provided educational services and the number of full-time equivalent students to which the approved facility school or state program provided services pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection (4), the department shall pay the approved facility school or state program a proportional amount of the total amount of education program funding as determined pursuant to subsection (2) of this section, based on the approved facility school's or state program's reported number of full-time equivalent students.    The department may prorate the payments made pursuant to paragraph (b) of this subsection (4), if the department determines that such action is necessary to accommodate a projected shortfall in education program funding as calculated pursuant to subsection (2) of this section.       In each applicable budget year, the general assembly shall appropriate to the department the amount required for education program funding pursuant to subsection (2) of this section.      The state board shall promulgate rules in accordance with the “State Administrative Procedure Act”, article 4 of title 24, C.R.S., as necessary for the administration and enforcement of this section. In promulgating the rules, the state board shall seek input from approved facility schools, state programs, districts, and organizations that represent facility schools.    In promulgating rules pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection (6), the state board shall seek input from the facility schools board created in section 22-2-404.       The general assembly hereby finds and declares that for the purposes of section 17 of article IX of the state constitution, providing funding for pupils who are placed in a facility and receive educational services through an approved facility school, who attend the Colorado school for the deaf and the blind, or who receive educational services through an education program operated by the Colorado mental health institute at Pueblo or Fort Logan is a program for 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.     History. Source: L. 2008: Entire section added, p. 1200, § 12, effective May 22. L. 2009: Entire section amended,(HB 09-1189), ch. 99, p. 368, § 1, effective April 3. L. 2012: (1)(d) amended and (1)(d.5) added,(HB 12-1090), ch. 44, p. 158, § 23, effective March 22. L. 2013: (1)(e) repealed, (1)(g) added, and (2) amended,(SB 13-260), ch. 236, p. 1140, § 6, effective May 17.    Cross references:   For the legislative declaration contained in the 2008 act enacting this section, see section 1 of chapter 286, Session Laws of Colorado 2008.