(1) Subject to the supervision of the state board, the commissioner has the following duties:
To advise the state board concerning the current operation and status of the publicschools and upon other educational matters;
To supply the state board with such information as it may require and to prepare forthe board to transmit annually a report accounting to the governor and the house and senate committees on education for the efficient discharge of all responsibilities assigned by law or directive to the department, and to issue all publications of the department circulated in quantity outside the executive branch in accordance with the provisions of section 24-1-136, C.R.S.;
To prepare and submit to the state board a budget for the department and to properlyexecute the approved budget in accordance with appropriations;
To establish and maintain a system of personnel administration within the department;
To cause all policies, rules, and regulations adopted by the state board to be dulyexecuted;
To serve as state librarian pursuant to section 24-90-104 (2), C.R.S.;
To visit public schools and communities which most need his personal attendance forthe purpose of stimulating and guiding public sentiment to education and diffusing by public addresses and personal communication with parents, school officers, and teachers a knowledge of existing defects of and a knowledge of desirable improvements in the government, finance, curriculum of, and instruction in the public schools;
To establish and maintain adequate statistical, academic performance, safety environment, and financial records of school districts, including records required by article 11 of this title;
To cause to be reprinted annually laws enacted by the general assembly concerningeducation, in accordance with the provisions of section 24-1-136, C.R.S., and to furnish copies thereof to interested persons. All publishing costs therefor shall be paid out of the state public school fund pursuant to section 22-54-114 (5).
To perform other duties as may be delegated to him by law or by the state board;
To submit to the governor and the general assembly, not later than the first day ofSeptember of each year, a report which shall discuss educational issues in Colorado and such other subjects as the commissioner may deem appropriate. The commissioner shall also submit such fiscal, instructional, academic progress, and other information as may be required by the state board to reflect the quality of education in the state. Statistical data by school district regarding drop-out rates, teacher-pupil ratios, number of courses offered, teacher turnover rates, and reading and achievement scores will be available upon request.
To prepare a manual setting forth simplified election procedures for use by the election judges in the district. He shall notify the superintendent of each district that such a manual is available and that copies will be furnished upon request and free of charge. When the school election laws have changed, he shall revise the manual to comply with the then existing laws. Such revisions may be made by inserts to the manual.
To supervise, manage, and control the Colorado school for the deaf and the blind atColorado Springs;
To enter into an interagency agreement with the department of health care policy andfinancing and to promulgate such rules and regulations as may be necessary under the agreement to enable school districts, boards of cooperative services, and state educational institutions to enter into contracts and to receive federal matching funds for moneys spent in providing student health services as provided in section 25.5-5-301 (6) or 25.5-5-318, C.R.S.;
To comply with the duties set forth in article 11 of this title;
To establish and maintain an educator identifier system to assign unique identifiers toeducators employed in a school district or local education agency. Each educator's identifier must be unique. The identifier must not use any personal identifying information, such as social security numbers or contact information, except for alignment purposes in data processing. Any personal identifying information that is collected must be linked in a secure data location so data sets can be matched based on the personal identifying information when the identifier is not included.
(I) To assist the state board in reviewing the content of educator preparation programs offered by institutions of higher education within the state. In so doing, the commissioner shall direct the department to collaborate with the department of higher education to prepare an annual report on the effectiveness of educator preparation programs.
For purposes of this paragraph (q), the department shall use data collected from aneducator in his or her first three years of placement as the educator of record.
To the extent the relevant data is available at the time of the annual report, thereport required pursuant to this subsection (1)(q) must include, but need not be limited to, the correlation between different educator preparation programs in the state, including alternative educator preparation programs, and student academic growth, educator placement, educator mobility and retention, and educator performance evaluation ratings.
The department shall work collaboratively with educator preparation programs andthe department of higher education and make the report prepared pursuant to this paragraph (q) available to the public on its website no later than thirty days after its completion. The department shall share the information with educator preparation programs to inform curriculum and program improvements.
Repealed.
To facilitate employment first policies and practices by:
Providing input and assistance to the employment first advisory partnership describedin section 8-84-303, C.R.S., in carrying out its duties; and
Presenting the reports and recommendations of the employment first advisory partnership to the department's legislative committee of reference pursuant to section 8-84-303 (7), C.R.S.
(t) To annually distribute to each school district and to the state charter school institute informational materials received from the department of personnel pursuant to section 24-5-102 relating to federal student loan repayment programs and student loan forgiveness programs.
In accordance with section 22-2-107 (1)(c), the commissioner shall establish requirements enabling residents of this state who are seventeen years of age or older or who are sixteen years of age and satisfy the requirements of section 22-33-104.7 to successfully complete a high school equivalency examination, as defined in section 22-33-102 (8.5).
Repealed.
(a) The commissioner shall ensure that the department, subject to available appropriations, annually allocates money to school districts, district charter schools, and institute charter schools to reimburse them for the costs of administering developmental education placement or assessment tests pursuant to sections 22-32-109.5, 22-30.5-117, and 22-30.5-526, respectively, to students enrolled in grades nine through twelve. The department shall allocate money to offset the costs incurred in administering each of the test units only once per student while the student is enrolled in grades nine through twelve.
(b) The general assembly finds that, for purposes of section 17 of article IX of the state constitution, administering developmental education placement or assessment tests to students in grades nine through twelve is an accountable program to meet state academic standards and is a component of accountability reporting and may therefore receive funding from the state education fund created in section 17 (4) of article IX of the state constitution.
On and after August 10, 2016, the board of education of a school district that intendsto seek voter approval of bonded indebtedness for the purpose of constructing a building that the school district may lease to a state institution of higher education or that intends to lease other school district property to a state institution of higher education, and that intends, in either situation, to receive in-kind services in lieu of part or all of the lease payments, must submit to the commissioner a letter of intent to lease property to a state institution of higher education. The commissioner shall approve the first three letters of intent that are submitted after August 10, 2016, and shall not approve subsequent submittals until July 1, 2021, at which point the commissioner may approve the first three letters of intent submitted after that date. A school district board of education may proceed with plans to lease property to a state institution of higher education or to seek voter approval of bonded indebtedness to construct a building for lease to a state institution of higher education only if the school district's letter of intent is approved by the commissioner. The provisions of this subsection (5) do not apply to a building lease between a school district and a state institution of higher education that exists as of August 10, 2016.
If a school district fails to replace categorical program support funds as required insection 22-54-107, the commissioner shall withhold from any state money due to the school district for any reason the unpaid amount of categorical program support funds recoverable from the school district. The commissioner shall withhold the state money commencing in the budget year immediately following the budget year in which the school district fails to pay the recoverable amount. The commissioner shall assess and recover an interest fee on the unpaid amount, beginning July 1, at a rate that is equal to the earnings on the treasury pooled funds for the previous fiscal year; except that the commissioner may waive accrued interest upon recovery of the unpaid amount.
(a) On or before September 15, 2020, the commissioner shall convene a stakeholder group to:
Review the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting disruption of the2019-20 school year, including student transition to remote learning and the cancellation of the state assessments, accountability, accreditation, and educator evaluation systems for the 2019-20 school year;
Discuss how the cancellation of state assessments will impact accountability, accreditation, and educator evaluations during the 2020-21 school year and whether future modifications are needed regarding the accountability, accreditation, and educator evaluation systems as a result of, and in response to, the COVID-19 pandemic and possible further disruptions; and
Make recommendations regarding whether and how to proceed with state assessments, accountability, accreditation, and educator evaluations during the 2020-21 school year and how the systems can continue to effectively measure student achievement and growth and provide an accurate, credible, and comparable assessment of the quality of the public education system throughout the state following the COVID-19 pandemic.
(b) This subsection (7) is repealed, effective July 1, 2021.
Source: L. 64: R&RE, p. 535, § 1. C.R.S. 1963: § 123-1-13. L. 69: p. 1022, § 1. L. 75: (1)(l) added, p. 686, § 2, effective July 1. L. 77: (1)(m) added, p. 1090, § 1, effective July 1. L. 79: (1)(f) amended and (2) added, pp. 774, 992, §§ 1, 2, effective July 1. L. 83: (1)(b) and (1)(i) amended, p. 833, § 34, effective July 1. L. 84: (1)(k) R&RE, p. 580, § 1, effective April 5. L. 96: (1)(b) amended, p. 1234, § 70, effective August 7. L. 97: (1)(n) added, p. 1138, § 5, effective May 28. L. 98: (1)(o) added, p. 986, § 3, effective July 1. L. 2000: (1)(h) amended, p. 349, § 2, effective April 10. L. 2006: (1)(n) amended, p. 2005, § 62, effective July 1. L. 2007: (1)(i) amended, p. 625, § 1, effective April 26; (3) added, p. 1065, § 3, effective May 23. L. 2009: (1)(h) amended, (SB 09-163), ch. 293, p. 1528, § 9, effective May 21. L. 2012: (4) added, (HB 12-1345), ch. 188, p. 730, § 20, effective May 19. L. 2013: (1)(p) and (1)(q) added, (HB 131219), ch. 104, p. 356, § 1, effective August 7. L. 2014: (2) amended, (SB 14-058), ch. 102, p. 380, § 8, effective April 7; (1)(r) added, (HB 14-1202), ch. 361, p. 1700, § 2, effective June 6. L. 2016: (6) added, (HB 16-1422), ch. 351, p. 1431, § 4, effective June 10; (1)(s) added, (SB 16077), ch. 360, p. 1506, § 6, effective July 1; (5) added, (SB 16-209), ch. 235, p. 950, § 3, effective August 10. L. 2018: (1)(q)(III) amended, (HB 18-1379), ch. 250, p. 1541, § 7, effective May 24. L. 2019: (4) amended, (HB 19-1206), ch. 133, p. 598, § 4, effective April 25; (1)(t) added, (SB 19-057), ch. 35, p. 113, § 2, effective August 2. L. 2020: (7) added, (HB 20-1418), ch. 197, p. 957, § 43, effective June 30.
Editor's note: (1) Subsection (3)(b) provided for the repeal of subsection (3), effective
July 1, 2008. (See L. 2007, p. 1065.)
(2) Subsection (1)(r)(II) provided for the repeal of subsection (1)(r), effective July 1, 2015. (See L. 2014, p. 1700.)
Cross references: (1) For duties of the commissioner of education concerning information as to respect for the flag and instruction on the U.S. constitution, see §§ 22-1-106 and 22-1-109; for duties concerning the use of eye protective devices in schools, see § 22-3-104; for duties concerning special education, see article 20 of this title; for the duty to review comprehensive health education programs, see § 22-25-105; for duties concerning educational clinics for public school dropouts, see article 27 of this title; for duties relating to the organization of school districts, see article 30 of this title; for duties concerning the Colorado school for the deaf and the blind, see article 80 of this title.
(2) For the legislative declaration contained in the 1996 act amending subsection (1)(b), see section 1 of chapter 237, Session Laws of Colorado 1996. For the legislative declaration in the 2012 act adding subsection (4), see section 11 of chapter 188, Session Laws of Colorado 2012. For the legislative declaration in SB 16-077, see section 1 of chapter 360, Session Laws of Colorado 2016. For the legislative declaration in HB 19-1206, see section 1 of chapter 133, Session Laws of Colorado 2019. For the legislative declaration in HB 20-1418, see section 1 of chapter 197, Session Laws of Colorado 2020.