§ 22-32-119 — Kindergartens - definition

(1) (a) A board of education shall
establish and maintain full-day or half-day kindergarten educational programs in
connection with the schools of its district for the instruction of children one year
prior to the year in which the children would be eligible for admission to the first
grade. A board may prescribe courses of training, study, and discipline and rules
governing the kindergarten educational programs. The kindergarten educational
programs must be a part of the public school system, and the school district must
pay the cost of establishing and maintaining the kindergarten educational
programs from the general school fund. A school district shall not charge the
parent of a child enrolled in a kindergarten educational program tuition to attend
any portion of the program, except as provided pursuant to section 22-32-115
(2)(b)(I), and shall not charge the parent fees for the child to attend the program
other than fees that are routinely charged to the parents of students enrolled in
other grades and are applicable to the kindergarten educational program.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1)(a) of this section to the
contrary, if the general assembly amends the Public School Finance Act of 2025,
article 54 of this title 22, to count a student enrolled in kindergarten only as a half-day pupil, with or without the addition of supplemental kindergarten enrollment as
defined in section 22-54-103 (15) for purposes of calculating the funded pupil count
as determined pursuant to article 54 of this title 22, a school district may charge
the student's parents tuition or a fee for the portion of the school day for which it
does not receive funding for the student pursuant to the Public School Finance Act
of 2025; except that the amount of tuition or fee charged must not exceed the
amount of tuition or fee that the school district charged to attend a full-day
kindergarten educational program for the 2018-19 budget year, adjusted for
inflation and prorated by the percentage of the school day for which the student is
no longer funded by the Public School Finance Act of 2025. As used in this
subsection (1)(b), inflation means the annual percentage change in the United
States department of labor bureau of labor statistics consumer price index for
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood for all items paid by all urban consumers, or its
applicable successor index.

(1.5) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2005, p. 433, � 6, effective April 29, 2005.)

(2) and (3) Repealed.

Legislative History

Source: L. 64: p. 588, � 20. C.R.S. 1963: � 123-30-20. L. 2001: Entire section amended, p. 561, � 4, effective May 29. L. 2002: (2)(a) amended, p. 1020, � 31, effective June 1. L. 2003: (1.5) added and (2)(e) amended, pp. 2139, 2128, �� 43, 20, effective May 22. L. 2004: (1) amended, p. 1394, � 14, effective May 28. L. 2005: (1) amended, p. 69, � 1, effective March 25; (1.5) amended and (3) added, p. 433, � 6, effective April 29. L. 2006: (3) repealed, p. 695, � 38, effective April 28. L. 2019: (1) amended, (HB 19-1262), ch. 245, p. 2394, � 3, effective May 21. L. 2024: (1)(b) amended, (HB 24-1448), ch. 236, p. 1532, � 42, effective May 23.