(1) (a) The board shall establish public school facility construction guidelines for use by the board in assessing and prioritizing public school capital construction needs throughout the state as required by section 22-43.7-108, reviewing applications for financial assistance, and making recommendations to the state board regarding appropriate allocation of awards of financial assistance from the assistance fund only to applicants. The board shall establish the guidelines in rules promulgated in accordance with article 4 of title 24, C.R.S.
(b) It is the intent of the general assembly that the public school facility construction guidelines established by the board be used only for the purposes specified in paragraph (a) of this subsection (1).
(2) The public school facility construction guidelines must identify and describe the capital construction, renovation, and equipment needs in public school facilities and means of addressing those needs that will provide educational and safety benefits at a reasonable cost. In preparing the guidelines, the board shall address the following considerations:
Health and safety issues, including security needs and all applicable building, health,safety, and environmental codes and standards required by state and federal law;
Technology, including but not limited to telecommunications and internet connectivity technology, technology for individual student learning and classroom instruction, and technology, as defined in section 22-43.7-109 (5)(a)(I)(B), which includes hardware, devices, or equipment necessary for individual student learning and classroom instruction, including access to electronic instructional materials, or necessary for professional use by a classroom teacher;
Building site requirements;
Building performance standards and guidelines, including but not limited to greenbuilding and energy efficiency criteria as specified in executive order D0012 07, "Greening of State Government: Detailed Implementation", issued by the governor on April 16, 2007, or any subsequent executive orders or other policy directives concerning green building and energy efficiency criteria issued by the governor or the Colorado energy office;
Consultation with the incumbent electric utility regarding energy efficiency; beneficial electrification, as defined in section 40-3.2-106 (6)(a); and renewable distributed generation opportunities;
Functionality of existing and planned public school facilities for core educationalprograms, particularly those educational programs for which the state board has adopted state model content standards;
Capacity of existing and planned public school facilities, taking into considerationpotential expansion of services for the benefit of students such as full-day kindergarten and preschool- and school-based health services;
Public school facility accessibility; and
The historic significance of existing public school facilities and the potential to meetcurrent programming needs by rehabilitating such facilities.
(3) The board and the division shall apply the public school facility construction guidelines in conducting the financial assistance priority assessment required by section 22-43.7108.
Source: L. 2008: Entire article R&RE, p. 1049, § 1, effective May 22. L. 2012: (2)(d) amended, (HB 12-1315), ch. 224, p. 958, § 4, effective July 1. L. 2017: (2)(b) amended, (HB 171082), ch. 392, p. 2020, § 2, effective June 6. L. 2020: (2) amended, (SB 20-124), ch. 223, p. 1098, § 1, effective September 14.