(1)Subject to the supervision of the state
board, the commissioner has the following powers:
(a)To perform all duties which may be required by law;
(b)To issue instructions to school district officers and employees concerning
the government of the public schools under their control;
(c)To prescribe forms and items to be included in reports submitted by
school district officers and employees and other persons;
(d)To construe provisions of the school laws on questions submitted to him
in writing by any school district officer or employee or other person. Said
construction may be published in either memorandum form or in any periodical
devoted to the interest of education with general distribution to the public schools.
(e)To cause to be prepared, printed, and distributed rep
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(1) Subject to the supervision of the state
board, the commissioner has the following powers:
(a) To perform all duties which may be required by law;
(b) To issue instructions to school district officers and employees concerning
the government of the public schools under their control;
(c) To prescribe forms and items to be included in reports submitted by
school district officers and employees and other persons;
(d) To construe provisions of the school laws on questions submitted to him
in writing by any school district officer or employee or other person. Said
construction may be published in either memorandum form or in any periodical
devoted to the interest of education with general distribution to the public schools.
(e) To cause to be prepared, printed, and distributed report forms, registers,
curriculum and instructional guides, pamphlets, and other materials as may be
beneficial to personnel and pupils of the public schools. All publishing costs
therefor shall be paid out of the funds appropriated to the department on warrants
of the controller covering vouchers approved by the commissioner. A reasonable
fee may be charged for any such materials delivered to a person not in the service
of a school district or enrolled as a pupil in the public schools thereof. All receipts
from such fees shall be deposited to the credit of the general fund.
(f) To recover a penalty fee from current state payments to a school district,
a board of cooperative services as defined in section 22-5-103 (2), or a group care
facility or home as defined by the department in its regulations when a certification
to the department of education by such district, board, facility, or home for the
determination of state funding by the department is not supported by generally
accepted accounting principles upon audit by the department. The penalty fee shall
be determined by the commissioner, but in no event shall such fee be less than fifty
dollars nor more than twenty thousand dollars per initial audit.
(g) (I) To recover an interest fee from current state payments to a school
district, a board of cooperative services as defined in section 22-5-103 (2), or a
group care facility or home as defined by the department in its rules when a
certification to the department by such district, board, or facility, for the
determination of state funding, results in an overpayment to the district, board,
facility, or home by the state. The interest amount shall be computed on the amount
of overpayment at a rate that is equal to the earnings on the treasury pooled funds
for the previous fiscal year, beginning from the final settlement date of the audit.
The interest fee shall be recovered in addition to the recovery of the amount of the
overpayment.
(II) (A) Notwithstanding the provisions of subparagraph (I) of this paragraph
(g), for audits that begin on or after July 1, 2007, if the department determines
through an audit of a school district or a group care facility or home that an
overpayment of state funding has been made to the district, facility, or home due to
an error in information submitted to the department, the commissioner shall not
recover an interest fee from the district, facility, or home in addition to the amount
of the overpayment if the district, facility, or home repays the overpayment within
the period specified in sub-subparagraph (B) of this subparagraph (II).
(B) The period during which the commissioner shall not recover an interest
fee pursuant to sub-subparagraph (A) of this subparagraph (II) shall be a period that
is equal to the number of years and any fraction of a year between the settlement
date of the audit in which the overpayment to the school district or group care
facility or home was determined and the settlement date of the immediately
preceding audit of the district, facility, or home. The period shall begin on the final
settlement date of the audit in which the overpayment to the district, facility, or
home was determined.
(C) If a school district or group care facility or home is unable to repay the
total amount of the overpayment within the period specified in sub-subparagraph
(B) of this subparagraph (II), the district, facility, or home and the department may
negotiate an extension of the repayment period for the remaining amount of the
overpayment; except that the commissioner shall recover the interest fee described
in subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (g) on the remaining amount of the
overpayment beginning on the day immediately following the expiration of the
period specified in sub-subparagraph (B) of this subparagraph (II). The interest fee
shall be recovered in addition to the recovery of the remaining amount of the
overpayment.
(III) Notwithstanding any provision of subparagraph (I) or (II) of this
paragraph (g) to the contrary, for the 2008-09 budget year, the commissioner may
accept as repayment from a school district that has received an overpayment items
for use by the department, including but not limited to lifetime online curriculum
licenses, in the same value as the amount of the overpayment owed by the school
district.
(h) To cooperate with local boards of education, pursuant to section 18-18-407 (2)(b), C.R.S., and make recommendations regarding the uniform
implementation and furnishing of notice of the provisions of section 18-18-407
(2)(b), C.R.S.;
(i) To issue emergency orders concerning a charter school pursuant to
section 22-30.5-703; and
(j) Subject to available appropriations, to expend appropriations to correct
an underpayment of state funding to a school district, board of cooperative
services, as defined in section 22-5-103, the state charter school institute, or a
group care facility or home when a certification to the department by the school
district, board, institute, facility, or home, for the determination of state funding by
the department, includes an error in the information submitted to the department.