Colorado § 22-14-109 - Student re-engagement grant program - rules - application - grants - report.

§ 22-14-109. Student re-engagement grant program - rules - application - grants - report.

(1) There is hereby created within the department the student re-engagement grant program to provide grant money to local education providers to use in providing educational services and supports, including work-based learning, to students to maintain student engagement and support student re-engagement in high school. Subject to available appropriations, the state board shall award student re-engagement grants to local education providers from money appropriated pursuant to subsection (4) of this section.

(2) The state board shall adopt rules pursuant to the "State Administrative Procedure Act", article 4 of title 24, C.R.S., for implementing the grant program. At a minimum, the rules shall include:

(a) Timelines and procedures by which a local education provider may apply for a grant;

(b) The information to be included on grant applications, including at a minimum:

(I) The local education provider's plan for providing educational services, including social and emotional support services;

(II) A description of the services to be provided;

(III) The estimated cost of providing the services;

(IV) The criteria the local education provider will apply to measure the effectiveness of the services provided; and

(V) A description of the local education provider's policies and practices related to:

(A) Course completion and credit recovery;

(B) Attendance and behavior improvements;

(C) Alternative and flexible learning strategies;

(D) Safe and welcoming school environments;

(E) Student social and emotional supports;

(F) Family engagement and family support strategies;

(G) Staff development;

(H) Innovations to address barriers to school engagement and success;

(I) Transference of student records to and receipt of student records from other local education providers; and

(J) Student participation in and the availability of visual arts and performing arts education.

(3) Each local education provider that seeks to receive a grant pursuant to this section shall submit an application to the department in accordance with the rules adopted by the state board. The department shall review the grant applications received and recommend grant recipients and grant amounts to the state board. The state board shall annually award grants through the grant program based on the department's recommendations.

(4) The general assembly may annually appropriate money to the department to implement the student re-engagement grant program created in this section, including money from the marijuana tax cash fund created in section 39-28.8-501. In addition, the department may accept and expend gifts, grants, or donations from private or public sources for the purposes of the program; except that the department may not accept a gift, grant, or donation if it is subject to conditions that are inconsistent with this article 14 or any other law of the state.

(5) (a) On or before February 15, 2011, and on or before February 15 each year thereafter, the department shall evaluate the student re-engagement services provided by each local education provider that received a grant pursuant to this section in the preceding fiscal year; except that the department need not provide an evaluation for any fiscal year in which grants were not awarded. At a minimum, the department shall review:

(I) The outcomes and effectiveness of the services provided as measured by the demonstrated degree of student re-engagement;

(II) The academic growth of students who received services as a result of the grant, to the extent the information is available;

(III) The reduction in the dropout rate; and

(IV) The increase in the graduation and completion rates for the grant recipients' schools.

(b) The department shall report the evaluation results to the education committees of the senate and the house of representatives, or any successor committees, in conjunction with the report submitted pursuant to section 22-14-111.

Source: L. 2009: Entire article added, (HB 09-1243), ch. 290, p. 1418, § 1, effective May 21. L. 2010: (2)(b)(V)(H) and (2)(b)(V)(I) amended and (2)(b)(V)(J) added, (HB 10-1273), ch. 233, p. 1024, § 14, effective May 18. L. 2015: (4)(a) amended, (HB 15-1367), ch. 271, p. 1074, § 11, effective June 4. L. 2018: (4)(a) amended, (HB 18-1369), ch. 253, p. 1554, § 2, effective August 8. L. 2019: (1) amended and (4) R&RE, (SB 19-246), ch. 151, p. 1793, § 8, effective May 10. L. 2022: (1) amended, (SB 22-140), ch. 357, p. 2563, § 9, effective July 1.

Editor's note: Section 20(4) of chapter 151 (SB 19-246), Session Laws of Colorado 2019, provides that the act changing this section takes effect only if HB 19-1276 does not become law. HB 19-1276 did not become law.

Cross references: For the legislative declaration in the 2010 act amending subsections (2)(b)(V)(H) and (2)(b)(V)(I) and adding subsection (2)(b)(V)(J), see section 1 of chapter 233, Session Laws of Colorado 2010. For the legislative declaration in HB 15-1367, see section 1 of chapter 271, Session Laws of Colorado 2015. For the legislative declaration in HB 18-1369, see section 1 of chapter 253, Session Laws of Colorado 2018. For the legislative declaration in SB 22-140, see section 1 of chapter 357, Session Laws of Colorado 2022.