§ 22-54-117 — Contingency reserve - fund - repeal

Colorado § 22-54-117

• Jurisdiction: Colorado
• Title 22: Education
• Art.: Public School Finance Act of 2025

Text

(1) (a) For the 2007-08
fiscal year and fiscal years thereafter, the general assembly shall annually
determine the amount to appropriate to the contingency reserve fund, which is
created in the state treasury. In deciding the amount to appropriate to the
contingency reserve fund, the general assembly may take into consideration any
recommendations made by the department of education, but nothing in this section
obligates the general assembly to provide supplemental assistance to all districts
that are found to be in need or to fully fund the total amount of such need. The
state board may approve and order payments from the contingency reserve fund
for supplemental assistance to districts determined to be in need as the result of
any or all of the following circumstances:

(I) Financial emergencies caused by an act of God or arising from
extraordinary problems in collecting taxes;

(II) Financial emergencies arising from the nonpayment of property taxes
pending the outcome of an administrative appeal or litigation or both challenging
the inclusion of the value of certain property in a county's abstract of assessment,
which resulted from a change in the applicable state law;

(III) The amount of property tax levied and collected pursuant to section 39-10-114, C.R.S., is insufficient for the purpose of making abatements and refunds of
property taxes that the district is required to make pursuant to that section;

(IV) A contingency that could not have been reasonably foreseen when the
district adopted the annual budget, including but not limited to reductions in
valuation of the district in excess of twenty percent as described in section 39-10-114 (1)(a)(I)(B.5), C.R.S.;

(V) Unusual financial burden caused by the instruction of children who
formerly resided outside the district but are assigned to live within the district by
courts or public welfare agencies. Supplemental assistance under this
circumstance must not exceed the additional cost for current operations that the
district incurs as a result of this circumstance.

(VI) Unusual financial burden caused by the instruction of children who move
into the district after the pupil enrollment count date. Supplemental assistance
under this circumstance must not exceed the additional cost that the district incurs
due to the increase in pupil enrollment. The provisions of this subparagraph (VI) are
available only to districts with a funded pupil count of two thousand pupils or fewer.

(VII) Unusual financial burden caused by a significant decline in pupil
enrollment as a result of detachment and annexation pursuant to a reorganization
plan approved pursuant to article 30 of this title.

(VIII) Repealed.

(IX) (A) For the 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24 budget years, unusual
financial burden caused by the withholding of local property taxes pursuant to
section 29-1-606 (5) for a rural or small rural school district, as defined in section
22-7-1211 (4), because of a delay in filing the audit report due to extraordinary
problems that could not have been reasonably foreseen or prevented by the rural or
small rural school district.

(B) This subsection (1)(a)(IX) is repealed, effective July 1, 2026.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subsection (1)
concerning circumstances under which the state board may approve and order
payments from the contingency reserve fund, the board may, in cases of extreme
emergency, take into consideration such other factors as it may deem necessary
and proper in granting supplemental assistance from the contingency reserve fund
to those districts that cannot maintain their schools without additional financial
assistance.

(c) (I) If the state board makes a payment of supplemental assistance based
on the circumstances described in subparagraph (II) of paragraph (a) of this
subsection (1) and the disputed property is finally determined to have been properly
included in the abstract of assessment, the district, after collecting the taxes, shall
reimburse the full amount of the payment to the contingency reserve fund, plus
interest at the same rate as provided by statute for penalty interest on unpaid
property taxes.

(II) Notwithstanding the provisions of subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (c),
any reimbursement by a district of a payment for supplemental assistance made
pursuant to this subsection (1) shall be credited to the contingency reserve fund.

(d) Any unexpended money in the contingency reserve fund at the end of a
budget year remains in the fund and does not revert to the state general fund or
any other fund.

(2) A district that applies for supplemental assistance pursuant to
subsection (1) of this section shall fully set forth in the application the grounds upon
which the district relies for assistance. The president and the secretary of the
district board of education shall swear under oath to the application contents.

(3) The state board shall investigate each application for supplemental
assistance to the extent it deems necessary. If the state board finds that the
application should be approved, it shall determine the amount of supplemental
assistance to be paid. In determining which districts receive supplemental
assistance pursuant to this section and the amount of the assistance, the state
board shall consider the amount of the supplemental assistance requested by the
district as a percentage of the district's total program. By order upon the state
treasurer, the state board shall direct payment from the contingency reserve fund
of the approved amount to the treasurer of the receiving district for credit to the
general fund of the district.

Legislative History

Source: L. 94: Entire article added with relocations, p. 801, � 2, effective April 27. L. 98: (1)(e) added, p. 975, � 23, effective May 27. L. 99: (1)(f) added, p. 176, � 3, effective March 30. L. 2000: (2), (3), and (6) amended and (1.5) added, p. 495, � 3, effective July 1. Referred 2000: (1.6) added, p. 2044, � 5, effective December 28. L. 2001: (1.7) added and (5) and (6)(a) amended, pp. 351, 362, �� 14, 31, effective April 16. L. 2002: (1.6) and (1.7)(a) amended, pp. 1777, 1780, 1779, �� 41, 45, 43, effective June 7. L. 2003: (1.6)(b) amended and (1.6)(c) added, p. 517, � 6, effective March 5; IP(1.5)(a), (1.5)(b), (1.5)(c), and (1.7)(a) amended and (1.5)(d) added, pp. 2134, 2132, �� 31, 26, effective May 22. L. 2004: (1.7)(a) amended, p. 1393, � 12, effective May 28. L. 2005: (1.7)(a) amended, p. 435, � 9, effective April 29. L. 2006: (6)(b) repealed, p. 675, � 14, effective April 28. L. 2007: (1), (1.5)(a), (1.6)(a), and (3) to (6) amended and (1.5)(a.5), (1.5)(e), and (1.6)(d) added, pp. 626, 629, �� 3, 4, effective April 26; (1.5)(a.5) and (1.6)(a) amended, p. 688, � 2, effective May 3; (1.6)(a) amended, p. 1310, � 9, effective July 1. L. 2008: (1.5), (1.6), and (1.7) repealed and (2) and (3) amended, pp. 1068, 1065, �� 14, 10, effective July 1. L. 2009: (1)(f) added, (SB 09-208), ch. 149, p. 622, � 14, effective April 20. L. 2010: (1)(g) added, (SB 10-191), ch. 241, p. 1075, � 16, effective May 20. L. 2011: (1)(h) added, (SB 11-164), ch. 33, p. 92, � 3, effective March 18. L. 2014: (7) added, (HB 14-1250), ch. 16, p. 129, � 1, effective February 27. L. 2016: Entire section RC&RE, (SB 16-066), ch. 24, p. 56, � 1, effective March 18; (1)(a)(VIII) added, (HB 16-1422), ch. 351, p. 1431, � 5, June 10. L. 2017: (1)(a)(VIII) amended, (SB 17-296), ch. 313, p. 1684, � 4, effective June 2. L. 2022: (1)(a)(IX) added, (HB 22-1390), ch. 237, p. 1747, � 10, effective May 26. L. 2024: IP(1)(a) and (1)(a)(VIII) amended, (SB 24-188), ch. 235, p. 1474, � 10, effective May 23.