§ 22-35-102 — Legislative declaration - repeal

Colorado § 22-35-102

• Jurisdiction: Colorado
• Title 22: Education
• Art.: Concurrent Enrollment

Text

(1) The general assembly
hereby finds that:

(a) Creating pathways between high schools and institutions of higher
education is essential to fulfilling the Colorado promise of doubling the number of
postsecondary degrees earned by Coloradans and reducing by half the number of
students who drop out of high schools in the state;

(b) Concurrent enrollment programs have the potential to help advance the
vision for an aligned system of high school and postsecondary standards and
assessments, as described in the Preschool to Postsecondary Education Alignment
Act, part 10 of article 7 of this title;

(c) Concurrent enrollment programs have existed for many years but with
little state coordination, limited attention to quality and consistency, and no
accountability. As a result, access has been necessarily limited.

(d) Historically, the beneficiaries of concurrent enrollment programs have
often been high-achieving students. The expanded mission of concurrent
enrollment programs is to serve a wider range of students, particularly those who
represent communities with historically low college participation rates.

(e) The state should improve teachers', administrators', and parents' access
to information concerning concurrent enrollment programs;

(f) The emerging economic reality is that a postsecondary credential of some
kind is the minimum educational requirement for a job that earns a living wage in
Colorado. In spite of this, the number of students in Colorado who earn a
postsecondary credential is disproportionately low when compared to other states.

(g) All of the state's high schools should eventually develop equitable
access to concurrent enrollment programs to provide the infrastructure necessary
to improve high school retention, to motivate young people to take seriously the
need to become postsecondary- and workforce-ready, and to accelerate students'
progress toward a postsecondary credential.

(2) The general assembly further finds and declares that, for purposes of
section 17 of article IX of the state constitution, providing funding for concurrent
enrollment programs is a permissible use of the moneys in the state education fund
because the moneys are being used for accountable school reform, for accountable
programs to meet state academic standards, and for class size reduction.

(3) (a) The general assembly further finds and declares its intention that the
administrative costs incurred by the department of education in its implementation
of the accelerating students through concurrent enrollment program created in
section 22-35-108 shall be supported by federal funds available for government
services pursuant to section 14002 of Title XIV of the federal American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Public Law 111-5 of the one hundred eleventh
United States Congress.

(b) This subsection (3) is repealed, effective July 1, 2026.

(4) Now, therefore, to broaden access to and improve the quality of
concurrent enrollment programs, the general assembly concludes that it is
appropriate and in the best interests of the state to support policies designed to
improve coordination between institutions of secondary education and institutions
of higher education and to ensure financial transparency and accountability.

Legislative History

Source: L. 2009: Entire article R&RE, (HB 09-1319), ch. 286, p. 1299, � 1, effective May 21. L. 2025: (3)(b) added by revision, (SB 25-315), ch. 237, pp. 1192, 1201, �� 6, 26.