Colorado § 22-32-122 - Contract services, equipment, and supplies.

§ 22-32-122. Contract services, equipment, and supplies.

(1) A school district may contract with another district, with the governing body of a state college or university, with the tribal corporation of an Indian tribe or nation, with a federal agency or officer, with a county, city, or city and county, or with a natural person, body corporate, or association for the performance of a service, including an educational service, an activity, or an undertaking that a school may be authorized by law to perform or undertake.

(2) Each school district board of education may review and revise the policies and procedures adopted by the board pursuant to section 22-32-109 (1)(b) and may choose to require competitive bidding on contracts for professional services, other than contracts for instructional services. A policy adopted pursuant to this subsection (2) may:

(a) Require that the school district personnel, prior to recommending that the board of education enter into a contract pursuant to this section, examine the costs and benefits of contracting for the service, activity, or undertaking rather than performing the service, activity, or undertaking using school district personnel and that the recommendation specify the conclusions of the cost-benefit analysis and their rationale;

(b) Require the school district personnel to implement a bidding process for contracts entered into pursuant to this section; and

(c) Establish criteria for recommending a contractor to the board of education.

(3) (a) A contract entered into pursuant to this section shall set forth fully the purposes, powers, rights, obligations, and responsibilities, financial or otherwise, of the parties so contracting and shall require the service, including educational service, activity, or undertaking to be of comparable quality and meet the same requirements and standards that would apply if performed by the school district.

(b) A contract executed pursuant to this section may include, among other things, the purchase, outright or by installment sale, or rental or lease, with or without an option to purchase, of necessary building facilities, equipment, supplies, and employee services.

(c) Any state or federal financial assistance that would accrue to a contracting school district, if the district were to perform the contracted service, including educational service, activity, or undertaking individually, shall, if the state board of education finds the contracted service, including educational service, activity, or undertaking is of comparable quality and meets the same requirements and standards that would apply if performed by a school district, be apportioned by the state board of education on the basis of the contractual obligations and paid separately to each contracting school district in the manner prescribed by law.

(4) (a) A contract executed pursuant to this section that includes services performed for a public school shall include a provision requiring a criminal background check for any person providing services under the contract, including any subcontractor or other agent of the contracting entity, if the person provides direct services to students, including but not limited to transportation, instruction, or food services. The criminal background check shall, at a minimum, meet the requirements of section 22-32-109.7 and any other requirements of the school district that executes the contract. The contracting entity is responsible for any costs associated with the background check. A contractor need not provide the results of the background check with the submission of the bid but shall make the background check results available upon request of the school board in compliance with the provisions of section 24-72-305.3, C.R.S.

(b) The background check described in paragraph (a) of this subsection (4) is required only for those persons who have regular, but not incidental, contact with students at least once a month.

(c) The provisions of paragraph (a) of this subsection (4) do not apply to a faculty member from an institution of higher education who contracts to teach for a school district and who has undergone a background check that meets the requirements of section 22-32-109.7 and any other requirements of the school district with which the faculty member contracts.

(5) Nothing in this section authorizes a school district to expend proceeds from the sale of general obligation or revenue bonds issued by the school district to procure or erect a school or other building beyond the territorial limits of the district except in accordance with the provisions of section 22-32-109 (1)(v).

(6) (a) This section does not authorize the creation of a contract school that is a full-time complete educational program being offered exclusively by a private entity pursuant to a contract with the public entity. If a school district, board of cooperative services, charter school, or the charter school institute seeks to operate or enroll students in a full-time complete educational program pursuant to a contract with a private entity, the school district, board of cooperative services, charter school, or the charter school institute shall utilize another provision of law, including the "Charter Schools Act", part 1 of article 30.5 of this title 22; the "Innovation Schools Act of 2008", article 32.5 of this title 22; or section 22-30.7-105. The general assembly intends for this subsection (6) to provide clarification of this section and not to make a substantive change.

(b) This subsection (6) does not prohibit contracts with an approved facility school, as defined in section 22-2-402, and does not prohibit contracts required by the federal "Individuals with Disabilities Education Act", 20 U.S.C. sec. 1400 et seq., as amended, or section 504 of the federal "Rehabilitation Act of 1973", 29 U.S.C. sec. 794, as amended, in order to provide the full continuum of placements to a student with a disability or as necessary to provide a free appropriate public education to a student with a disability.

Source: L. 64: p. 589, § 23. C.R.S. 1963: § 123-30-23. L. 67: p. 1078, § 1. L. 75: (2) amended, p. 786, § 5, effective July 1. L. 77: (1) amended, p. 1050, § 2, effective June 10. L. 79: (2) amended, p. 783, § 3, effective June 7. L. 93: Entire section amended, p. 669, § 1, effective April 30; (1) amended, p. 1648, § 42, effective July 1. L. 2011: (1.5) added, (SB 11-266), ch. 241, p. 1052, § 1, effective May 27. L. 2012: Entire section amended, (SB 12-051), ch.200, p. 800, § 1, effective August 8. L. 2026: (6) added, (SB 26-023), ch. 181, p. 1067, § 28, effective May 28.

Editor's note: Subsection (1) was amended in Senate Bill 93-242. Those amendments were superseded by the amendment of the entire section in House Bill 93-1118.