(1) There is created in the department the concurrent enrollment expansion and innovation grant program to provide grants, subject to available appropriations, to partnering local education providers and institutions of higher education, referred to in this section as a "partnership", that seek to begin offering, or to expand their capacity to offer, concurrent enrollment opportunities to qualified students. A single partnership may include multiple local education providers and multiple institutions of higher education. A partnership that seeks a grant must submit an application to the department in accordance with rules of the state board. The application must include:
The number of qualified students, in total and disaggregated by student group, participating in concurrent enrollment in each of the preceding five school years, including the types of postsecondary courses in which qualified students enrolled, including academic and career and technical education courses, which may have included course work related to apprenticeship programs and internship programs; the number of postsecondary credits earned; and whether the postsecondary credits were generally transferable to institutions of higher education throughout the state;
The number of qualified students, in total and disaggregated by student group, whoapplied for concurrent enrollment in each of the preceding five school years but were denied and the reasons for the denials;
The financial terms of the cooperative agreement between the members of the partnership;
The manner in which the local education provider and the partnering institution ofhigher education publicize the availability of concurrent enrollment to its students and the amount of counseling provided to students and their parents or legal guardians concerning the costs and benefits of concurrent enrollment and the transferability of credits obtained through concurrent enrollment;
A description of the manner in which the partnership plans to use the grant money toexpand the number of qualified students concurrently enrolled in postsecondary courses, which may include:
Assisting one or more teachers with the cost of obtaining a graduate degree in a specific subject so that the teacher may be certified to teach a postsecondary course at a high school;
Removing barriers to concurrent enrollment for qualified students, which may include paying the costs of books, supplies, fees, or transportation;
Sharing data between the members of the partnership, which may include purchasing technology software and equipment to assist in the student enrollment process; and
Providing services, support, and coordination resources for concurrent enrollmentfor either or both members of the partnership; and
(f) Any additional information required by rule of the state board, including information that demonstrates the applicant's need for financial support for concurrent enrollment and the likelihood that the applicant's use of the grant will increase the participation of low-income or first-generation qualified students in concurrent enrollment.
(2) The department of education in coordination with the department of higher education shall review each grant application received and recommend to the state board applicants that may receive grants and the recommended amount of each grant. Beginning in the 2019-20 school year, subject to available appropriations, the state board, taking into consideration the recommendations of the department of education and the department of higher education, shall award grants to applying partnerships pursuant to this section. In making recommendations and awarding grants, the departments and the state board shall award grants to partnerships that:
Do not provide concurrent enrollment or concurrently enroll few qualified students atthe time of application;
Demonstrate the greatest degree of need for financial support to expand concurrentenrollment, including needs that may arise as a result of a higher-than-anticipated participation rate;
Demonstrate the most effective use of the grant money to provide the greatest expansion of concurrent enrollment, which may include expanding by using technological strategies or partnering with the statewide supplemental online and blended learning program described in section 22-5-119 and must include expanding the participation of low-income or first-generation qualified students in concurrent enrollment;
Have demonstrated success in providing concurrent enrollment to a large percentageof the qualified students enrolled by the local education providers and are seeking to implement innovations to expand the number of qualified students concurrently enrolled; or
Have a plan in place to ensure that course work related to apprenticeship programsand internship programs is eligible to receive transferable postsecondary course credits.
(3) (a) Each partnership that receives a grant pursuant to this section shall report to the department of education and the department of higher education the manner in which it uses the grant money and any other information requested by either the department of education or the department of higher education to prepare the report required in subsection (3)(b) of this section.
(b) On or before February 1, 2021, and on or before February 1 each year thereafter, the department of education in coordination with the department of higher education shall prepare a report concerning implementation of the concurrent enrollment expansion and innovation grant program. At a minimum, the report must include:
The grant recipients and the amount of the grant awarded to each recipient;
The manner in which each grant recipient used the grant money received;
The number and demographics of the qualified students concurrently enrolled inpostsecondary courses in the school years before and after the grant recipient received the grant;
The number of teachers who received a credential using assistance received from agrant;
The types of postsecondary courses, including career and technical education courses and any course work related to apprenticeship programs and internship programs, in which qualified students enrolled in the school years before and after the grant recipient received the grant;
The number and transferability of the postsecondary credits earned through concurrent enrollment in the school years before and after the grant recipient received the grant;
The high school graduation rate of each local education provider that participatesin the grant program, in total and disaggregated by student group;
The number of students who participated in concurrent enrollment who completedan associate degree or a certificate from an approved career and technical education program, in total and disaggregated by student group; and
The number of qualified students who participated in concurrent enrollment andmatriculated to a two-year or four-year institution, in total and disaggregated by student group.
The department shall submit the report to the state board, the department of highereducation, the commission, and the education committees of the house of representatives and the senate, or any successor committees. The department shall also post the report on the concurrent enrollment website created pursuant to section 22-35-113.
Notwithstanding the requirement in section 24-1-136 (11)(a)(I), the report required inthis subsection (3) continues indefinitely.
(4) (a) The general assembly may annually appropriate money to the department for grants as provided in this section, including money from the marijuana tax cash fund created in section 39-28.8-501 and money from the state education fund created in section 17 of article IX of the state constitution.
The general assembly declares that, for purposes of section 17 of article IX of thestate constitution, expansion of concurrent enrollment is an important element in implementing 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.
Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the contrary, in a budget year inwhich the general assembly does not appropriate money for grants pursuant to this section, the department and the state board are not required to implement the provisions of this section.
Source: L. 2019: Entire section added, (SB 19-176), ch. 244, p. 2384, § 6, effective August 2.