Bill Tracker

Interim Committee to Study School Finance. Section 1 requires school districts to provide funding for capital construction to each qualified charter school in the district by making a monthly payment to the qualified charter school after the school district has received the monthly payment from the department of education (department). Section 2 requires the department to provide funding for capital construction to the state charter school institute by making a monthly payment to the institute and requires the institute to promptly remit the appropriate amount to each qualified institute charter school. Both sections 1 and 2 are conforming amendments necessary due to a change, made during the 2009 legislative session, in the way capital construction moneys are distributed to charter schools.

Section 3 eliminates a local board of education's authority to negotiate business incentive agreements (BIAs) with a taxpayer who establishes a new business facility in the school district. Section 5 eliminates the provision allowing any school district that has entered into a business incentive agreement with a taxpayer to receive state share of total program funding in an amount equal to the amount of the incentive payment or credit to the taxpayer pursuant to the agreement. This funding is in lieu of property taxes that are not collected by the district due to the agreement. School districts were prohibited from entering into new agreements after May 22, 2003. Only 2 districts still have an agreement in place, and those agreements will expire in the 2010-11 budget year. Money has not been appropriated for funding the agreements since the 2006-07 budget year. Sections 4 and 10 make conforming amendments necessary due to the elimination of BIAs.

Section 6. During the 2009 legislative session, the amount of additional local property tax revenues that a school district may receive was increased from 20% to 25% of the district's total program. To retain the additional 5%, the statute requires a district to notify the state board of education when it plans to seek voter approval to retain and spend the additional property tax revenues and to submit a proposal of what the district will do with the additional revenues. Section 6 eliminates the notification requirements but still allows a district to receive up to 25% of the district's total program from additional local property tax revenues.

Section 7 eliminates the requirement that the department reduce a school district's state share of total program funding by an amount equal to the payment that the district receives as impact assistance in lieu of taxes from the division of wildlife. Section 11 eliminates the requirement that the district certify to the department the amount it receives from impact funds.

Section 8. The general assembly is required to make an annual appropriation for matching funds pursuant to the "National School Lunch Act". Prior to the budget year in which the general assembly began to appropriate moneys for the matching funds, some school food authorities used moneys from the authority's general fund to subsidize school lunches. Those authorities are prohibited from using the matching fund moneys in lieu of the general fund moneys they were already spending on school lunches. Section 8 eliminates the prohibition.

Section 9. In the 2008 legislative session, the general assembly increased the charter school capital construction appropriation and required that a specific amount of the increase be distributed to a charter school for the deaf and blind for the 2008-09 budget year only. Section 9 eliminates language that was necessary in connection with the distribution of these moneys. Section 12 is a conforming amendment necessitated by the repeal in section 9.

Interim Committee to Study School Finance. The bill creates a stable funding pilot program for small school districts (small districts) that provides consistent total program funding for each of 5 consecutive budget years, beginning with the 2010-11 budget year (stable funding period), to allow a participating small district more predictability in its budgeting process. A small district that participates in the pilot program will receive total program funding equal to its total program funding for the 2009-10 budget year throughout the stable funding period. The total program funding calculated for a small district pursuant to the pilot program will be in lieu of total program as traditionally calculated. A small district may choose to participate in the pilot program during the first or second year of the stable funding period.

A small district that chooses to participate in the pilot program shall participate for the entire remaining stable funding period.

The total program funding for a small district that participates in the pilot program shall be altered from the 2009-10 budget year funding during the stable funding period only if there is a statewide increase in per pupil funding that is not related to the funded pupil count of a district or if the small district experiences an increase or decrease in pupil enrollment that is larger than a specified percentage over the small district's pupil enrollment for the 2009-10 budget year.

A small district that participates in the pilot program must enter into memoranda of understanding or other agreements with one or more school districts or boards of cooperative services to jointly provide services for the districts and to share in the cost of providing the services.

The state board of education will:

Conduct a final review and evaluation of the pilot program with input from the participating small districts and recommend to the general assembly whether to continue the program; and

Promulgate rules to implement the pilot program.

Interim Committee to Study School Finance. This bill enacts the "Public School Financial Transparency Act", which requires school districts, district charter schools, boards of cooperative education, the state charter school institute, and institute charter schools (local education providers) to post financial information on-line, in a downloadable format, for free public access. Additionally, local education providers shall provide a link to, or web site information for, the department of education (department).

The requirement for posting certain types of financial information is phased-in over 3 years. Commencing July 1, 2010, local education providers shall post adopted budgets, annual audited financial statements, at least quarterly financial statements, and salary schedules or policies on-line within a specified number of days after the reports or schedules are completed. Commencing July 1, 2011, local education providers shall post check registers and credit, debit, and purchase card statements on-line within a specified number of days after the statements are received. Commencing July 1, 2012, local education providers shall post investment performance reports or statements on-line within a specified number of days after receipt of those statements. The public will have on-line access to the posted information for a specified period.

The bill requires the department's policies and procedures advisory committee, by January 1, 2011, to create a template for voluntary use by a local education provider for the posting of the required information. The template may include the type of electronic file posted as well as the information to be included in the posting.

Long-term Fiscal Stability Commission. Section 1 of the bill makes legislative findings and declarations that:

• The state should save substantial amounts of money during periods of significant economic growth in order to prevent drastic cuts in core state services during economic downturns;
• By enacting Senate Bill 09-228, which will, if significant economic growth occurs, increase the amount of the required general fund reserve for future fiscal years, as a first step towards ensuring that the state saves more money in the future, the general assembly has recognized that the state has not saved enough money during past periods of significant economic growth;
• Based on the experience of the state during recent economic downturns, the increased general fund reserve required by Senate Bill 09-228 is likely to prove inadequate to fully stabilize the state budget and prevent drastic cuts in state services during future economic downturns; and

• It is necessary, appropriate, and in the best interest of the state to:
  • Convert the general fund reserve to a state budget stabilization reserve fund; 
  • Further increase the amount of general fund revenues that the state is required to save; and
  • Promote fiscal discipline in state government and protect against rapid depletion of the reserve fund by reducing the percentage of estimated reserve fund depletion that will require the governor to formulate a plan for reducing general fund expenditures from the percentage of estimated general fund reserve depletion that currently triggers that requirement.

Section 2 of the bill creates the state budget stabilization reserve fund (fund) and requires fund investment earnings to be credited to the fund. Beginning in FY 2009-10, section 2 also requires increasing amounts of general fund moneys, measured as a percentage of annual general fund appropriations, to be credited to the fund at the end of each fiscal year until the fund balance can be maintained at 15% of general fund appropriations.

Section 3 of the bill reduces the percentage of estimated general fund reserve depletion for a fiscal year that triggers a requirement that the governor formulate a plan for reducing general fund expenditures from 50% of the amount of the existing general fund reserve to the greater of 2% of the amount appropriated for expenditure from the general fund for the fiscal year or one-third the amount of the fund that is replacing the general fund reserve. Section 3 also makes a conforming amendment regarding the trigger for transferring general fund moneys previously credited to the capital construction fund back into the general fund.

Sections 4 through 12 of the bill make conforming amendments necessitated by the conversion of the general fund reserve to the fund.

Section 3 of the bill prohibits any area that has been designated as an urban renewal area from containing any agricultural land unless:

• The agricultural land is a brownfield site as designated by the United States environmental protection agency;
• The area containing the agricultural land is at least two-thirds contiguous with urban-level development and at least one-half of the area consists of urban-level development that is determined to constitute a slum or blighted area;
• The agricultural land is an enclave within the territorial boundaries of a municipality and the entire perimeter of the enclave has been contiguous with urban-level development for a period of not less than 3 years;
• Each public body that levies an ad valorem property tax on the agricultural land agrees in writing to the inclusion of the agricultural land within the urban renewal area; or
• The agricultural land was included in an approved urban renewal plan prior to the effective date of the bill.

In addition, section 3 of the bill:

• Where agricultural land is included within an urban renewal area under the conditions specified in the bill, requires the county assessor to value the agricultural land at its fair market value solely for determining the base amount of taxes to be paid to the public bodies without consideration of the tax increment. Nothing in the bill affects the actual classification of agricultural land for property tax purposes.
• Expands the grounds allowing counties to challenge information contained in urban renewal impact reports.
• Permits the required agreement to be entered into by or among the municipality and urban renewal authority and county taxing entities in the case of tax increment financing to provide for a waiver of certain requirements under the urban renewal law.

Section 4 of the bill requires urban renewal plans to include a legal description of the urban renewal area, including the legal description of any agricultural land proposed for inclusion within the urban renewal area pursuant to the conditions specified in the bill.

Section 5 of the bill provides that, not later than 30 days after the municipality has provided the county assessor notice that the urban renewal plan contains tax increment financing provisions, the assessor may provide written notice to the municipality if the assessor believes that agricultural land has been improperly included in the urban renewal area under the conditions specified in the bill. If the notice is not delivered within the 30-day period, the inclusion of the land in the urban renewal area as described in the urban renewal plan shall be incontestable in any suit or proceeding notwithstanding the presence of any cause. If the assessor provides written notice to the municipality within the 30-day period, the municipality may file an action in state district court for an order determining whether the inclusion of the land in the urban renewal area is consistent with one of the conditions specified in the bill and shall have an additional 30 days from the date it receives the notice in which to file the action. If the municipality fails to file such an action within the additional 30-day period, the urban renewal area shall not include the agricultural land.

The bill creates the Colorado kids outdoors grant program (grant program) in the department of natural resources to provide grants for programs that allow Colorado youth to participate in outdoor activities in the state, including but not limited to programs that emphasize the environment and experiential, field-based learning. The executive director of the department of natural resources (executive director) will adopt rules to implement the grant program, including criteria for selecting grant recipients. An advisory council will assist the executive director in reviewing the applications and creating the criteria. The grant program will be funded through gifts, grants, and donations, which will be deposited in the newly created Colorado kids outdoors grant program fund. The executive director will report to certain legislative committees concerning implementation of the grant program, including the amount awarded and the activities that receive funding.

The bill directs the department of education, in consultation with the department of natural resources, to create and the state board of education (state board) to adopt a state plan for environmental education (state plan). The state plan will be designed to strengthen environmental education in the state and provide to educators professional development in environmental education. The department of education and the state board will create and adopt the state plan only if the department receives gifts, grants, and donations to pay the costs of creating and adopting the plan. Any moneys received by the department of education for creating the state plan will be credited to the newly created state environmental education fund.

Commencing with the 2010-11 academic year, the bill requires primary and secondary public schools to conduct at least 2 emergency safety protocol drills each academic year in addition to fire evacuation drills. An emergency safety protocol drill may include the practice of evacuation, lockdown, reverse evacuation, or shelter-in-place procedures. The additional emergency safety protocol drills may be conducted at the same time as the fire evacuation drill by practicing, for example, a reverse evacuation procedure and a lockdown procedure following the fire evacuation drill. All schools of a school district, boards of cooperative services, and institute charter schools are included in the safety drill requirement.

The bill defines "emergency safety protocol drill" to include the practice of 4 different emergency response procedures, including evacuation, lockdown, reverse evacuation, and shelter-in-place procedures, and gives examples of when a school may implement each emergency response procedure.

The bill requires a school to notify community first responders prior to conducting the emergency safety protocol drill. A school may use the resources of the school safety resource center in developing emergency safety protocol drill procedures.

The bill prohibits retaining more than 5% of the payments due to a contractor to ensure that work is satisfactorily completed (retainage) for the first 50% of a construction project. For the remaining 50% of the work, the bill prohibits retainage of more than 2.5%. More retainage may be withheld for work that is unsatisfactorily completed.

A building client is required to deposit retainage in an interest-bearing escrow account that the contractor may access with an arbitration or court order. The bill sets standards for the account. If the building client fails to deposit the money in an account, the building client is required to pay the contractor 15% interest on the retainage.

The bill requires a contractor to forward payment to a subcontractor for work the subcontractor performed within 7 days. The building client is required to pay the contractor retainage within 30 days after substantial completion of the construction project. A violator is required to pay interest plus a penalty of 15% interest.

Contractors are authorized to give the building client a substitute security and have retainage paid. Standards are set for the security.

Failure to pay interest subjects the property to a lien.

Section 2 of the bill allows the state board of land commissioners (board) to convey land to units of local government if the conveyance would add value to adjoining or nearby state trust property, benefit board operations, or comply with local land use regulations.

Sections 3 and 4 credit all financial warranties collected by the board that have been forfeited or are required for remediation activities to the newly created financial warranty account of the state land board trust administration fund and continuously appropriate the warranties for the remediation or other activities on the affected property.

Under current law, an insurer that pays benefits to a person who is injured due to an act or omission of a third party may, under some circumstances, obtain repayment of those benefits out of any recovery paid to the injured party, regardless of whether the injured party has been fully compensated for his or her losses.

The bill would limit the ability of an insurer to obtain a repayment of benefits if the repayment would cause the injured party to not be fully compensated. Additionally, if the injured party has been fully compensated and the repayment is allowed, the amount of the repayment is limited to the amount actually paid by the insurer. Finally, the bill requires the insurer to pay its proportionate share of attorney fees and costs incurred by the injured party in obtaining the settlement or judgment.

If a dispute arises regarding an insurer's right to reimbursement or subrogation, it is to be resolved in the same jurisdiction in which the underlying civil claim was handled. When the injured party recovers damages that he or she believes are not sufficient to fully compensate him or her, the injured party must notify the insurer in writing that the recovery obtained is less than the sum of all of the injured party's damages. If the insurer disputes the injured party's claim, the insurer may file a post-trial or other appropriate motion, or if there is no underlying civil action, may seek a declaratory judgment, to determine whether the injured party's recovery is insufficient to fully compensate the injured party. If the court agrees with the injured party, the insurer has no right to reimbursement or subrogation.

An insurer is precluded from bringing a direct action against the at-fault third party for subrogation or reimbursement, and the third party cannot add the insurer as a copayee on any check or draft in payment of a settlement or judgment for the injured party.

Insurers cannot delay, withhold, or reduce benefits because the obligation to pay benefits results from the acts or omissions of a third party or as a means to compel reimbursement or subrogation. Additionally, if an insurer obtains reimbursement of benefits paid, the insurer must apply the amount of the reimbursement as a credit against any applicable lifetime cap on benefits contained in the applicable policy or plan.

The bill does not affect statutory liens granted to hospitals that provide care to an injured party.

Current law requires the state board of education (state board) to adopt rules specifying the method for calculating the dropout rate for students enrolled in grades 7 through 12. The bill repeals the requirement that the state board also calculate the number of students who obtain a high school diploma after reaching 21 years of age and repeals the specific definition of "dropout".

With regard to the "Colorado Basic Literacy Act", the bill repeals the requirements that school districts report information to the department of education. The bill also repeals the requirement that school districts submit their annual budgets to the department of education.

The bill clarifies the circumstances under which the education data advisory committee (EDAC) may identify a data reporting request as mandatory, required to receive a benefit, or voluntary.

The bill directs the EDAC to review the processes and timing for collecting student demographic data and recommend to the state board procedures for efficiently updating the data as necessary.

The bill repeals reporting requirements concerning physically, morally, and mentally defective students; data from the in-home or in-school suspension grant program; and data from the pilot schools for expelled students.

The bill requires institutions of higher education that report data concerning student remediation to report the data on an individual student basis as soon as practicable after the institution begins using the unique student identifiers assigned to students by the department of education.

The bill adds a new part to the statutory provisions governing the office of state planning and budgeting (OSPB) that:

• Declares overpayments to individuals, vendors, and other entities to be a serious problem for certain government entities (other covered entities) and state agencies that can be mitigated by requiring recovery audits of state agency or other covered entity expenditures designed to recover overpayments.
• Requires the director of OSPB to:
  
  • Contract with private contractors for recovery audits of state agency and other covered entity payments to individuals, vendors, and other entities for state agencies and other covered entities that expend more than $25 million annually;
  • Promulgate rules necessary to implement the recovery audit program, including rules to set reasonable compensation as a percentage of the amount recovered from recovery audits for recovery audit contractors and, if deemed appropriate by the director, rules to provide cost-benefit criteria to exempt from the program state agencies and other covered entities that make relatively few or small payments to vendors;
  • Report to the legislative audit and joint budget committees by May 1 of each year regarding exemptions from recovery audits proposed to be allowed by the director for the next fiscal year so that the committees can have an opportunity to veto any such exemption;
  • Provide copies of all reports received from recovery audit contractors to the governor, the state auditor, and the legislative audit and joint budget committees within 7 days of receipt; and
  • No later than December 31 of each year, issue a report to the general assembly summarizing the contents of all recovery audit contractor reports received during the most recently completed fiscal year.

• Allows the director of OSPB to retain a portion of any amount recovered due to a recovery audit in order to defray the reasonable and necessary administrative costs incurred by OSPB in contracting for and providing oversight of the recovery audit.
• Requires the director of OSPB and a state agency or other covered entity subject to a recovery audit to provide to the auditing contractor confidential information necessary for the conduct of the audit to the extent not prohibited by federal law or regulation or an agreement with the federal government, the government of another state, or an agency of another state.
• Requires the auditing contractor to keep the information confidential or face any civil or criminal penalties that would apply to a breach of confidentiality by the state agency or other covered entity or its employees.

The bill creates the alternative school funding models pilot program (pilot program) to encourage school districts and charter schools to collect data that will be used to compare the effects of alternative school funding models with those of the actual school funding method. A school district or charter school that chooses to participate in the pilot program will continue to receive its actual funding as provided in the "Public School Finance Act of 1994" while participating in the pilot program. A school district or charter school that participates in the pilot program may accept gifts, grants, and donations to offset the costs incurred.

An advisory council, consisting of selected members of the general assembly, selected members of the state board of education (state board), selected members representing school districts and school executives, and the commissioner of education, will review applications submitted by school districts and charter schools to participate in the pilot program and will select the participants. A participating school district or charter school must participate in the pilot program for a minimum of 2 school years and will annually submit to the advisory council the data it collects, including identification of the funding differences the school district or charter school would experience if it were funded under an alternative school funding model. The advisory council will submit to the state board, the governor, and the general assembly an annual summary report of the data received from the pilot program participants. The advisory council may accept and expend gifts, grants, donations, and services in kind to offset the costs incurred in implementing the pilot program.

The pilot program will repeal on July 1, 2015.

The bill makes changes to the public employees' retirement association (PERA) as specified below.

Highest average salary. Currently, a PERA member's highest average salary (HAS) is based on an average of the highest annual salaries associated with 3 periods of 12 consecutive months of service with a base year. Current law also imposes either an 8% or 15% cap on the amount of salary increase from one year to the next that will be counted toward the HAS calculation, depending on whether a person was a member, inactive member, or retiree on certain dates. For all members who are not yet eligible to draw a full or reduced service retirement benefit on January 1, 2011, the bill changes the current HAS calculation to a 5-year HAS with a base year and imposes a 5% cap on the amount of salary increase from one year to the next that will be counted toward the HAS calculation.

Report by the state treasurer. The bill requires the state treasurer to submit a report to the general assembly regarding the overall financial standing of PERA on an annual basis, or more frequently than annually when the treasurer determines that the financial standing of the association is unsound.

Actuarial necessity. Currently, statute does not define under what conditions an actuarial necessity exists. The bill states that an actuarial necessity exists when the defined benefit plan is not actuarially sound and that, in the event of an actuarial necessity, the general assembly may modify the benefits allowed to certain members in the defined benefit plan of PERA.

Rate of return on investments. The bill requires the board to assume an annual rate of return on all investments made with PERA funds that is based on the average of the actual rate of return for the 3 previous calendar years.

Employer and member contribution rates. The bill changes the employer and member contribution rates for employers and members in the PERA defined benefit plan beginning on January 1, 2011. For all employers and members, the contribution shall be an amount equal to 10% of the member's salary.

Eliminate the amortization equalization disbursement (AED). The AED is a contribution made by each PERA employer, in addition to the employer contribution, that was enacted by the general assembly as a means of improving the funded ratio of the retirement plans administered by PERA. The AED began in the 2006 calendar year and was 0.5% of each PERA employer's total payroll. The AED increased by 0.5% for the 2007 calendar year. For employers in all divisions of PERA, current law requires the AED to increase by an additional 0.4% in the 2008 through 2012 calendar years for a total AED equal to 3% of the employer's total payroll. The bill eliminates the AED for employers in all divisions of PERA beginning in the 2011 calendar year.

Eliminate the supplemental amortization equalization disbursement (SAED). The SAED is a contribution made by each PERA employer but is funded from moneys that would otherwise be used by the employer for employees' annual raises. The SAED is in addition to the employer and employee contributions and the AED. Like the AED, it was enacted by the general assembly as a means of improving the funded ratio of the retirement plans administered by PERA. The SAED began in the 2008 calendar year and was 0.5% of each PERA employer's total payroll. For employers in all divisions of PERA, current law requires the SAED to increase by an additional 0.5% in the 2009 through the 2013 calendar years for a total SAED equal to 3% of the employer's total payroll. The bill eliminates the SAED for employers in all divisions of PERA beginning in the 2011 calendar year.

Adjustment of contribution rates by the general assembly. Currently, contribution rates set in statute are not typically adjusted on an annual basis. The bill requires the general assembly to review the PERA employer and employee contribution rates when the actuarial funded ratio of a particular division of PERA is at or above 90% and to determine the amount, if any, by which such contributions can be reduced for that particular division and still maintain the actuarial funded ratio of that division at or above 90%. The general assembly is required to review the contribution rates again if the actuarial funded ratio of the division reaches 90% and subsequently falls below 90%.

Purchase of service credit. Currently, under certain circumstances, PERA members are allowed to purchase service credit for years of service that are not currently counted toward their years of service. The bill prohibits all purchases of service credit on and after January 1, 2011.

Rule of 95. A member is currently required to have 30 years of service and to have reached the age of 50 or 55, depending on when the employee began employment with a PERA employer, to retire with a full retirement benefit. This is commonly known as the rule of 80 or the rule of 85, respectively. The bill creates a new rule of 95 by requiring members, other than state troopers, who did not have 5 years of service credit on the effective date of the bill to have 30 years of service and to have reached the age of 65 to retire with a full retirement benefit.

Cost of living adjustment (COLA). Currently, the annual COLA for benefit recipients is either 3.5% or the lesser of 3% or inflation, depending on when the member began membership in PERA. The bill reduces the COLA to the lesser of 2% or inflation for all current and future retirees, regardless of when they began membership in PERA. In addition, the bill requires benefit recipients whose effective date of retirement is on or after January 1, 2011, to receive benefits for at least the full preceding calendar year before the benefit is adjusted with the COLA.

When the actuarial funded ratio of any division of PERA is at or above 90%, the bill allows the general assembly to restore or adjust the COLA for only benefit recipients whose benefits are based on the account of a member who was in the division with an actuarial funded ratio at or above 90%. The bill allows the general assembly to annually adjust the COLA for benefit recipients from any division with an actuarial funded ratio of 90% or more and specifies that such adjustment shall be based on the rate of inflation.

Defined contribution plan. PERA currently offers a defined contribution plan and specifies the conditions under which a member may opt into the defined contribution plan in lieu of participating in the defined benefit plan. The bill eliminates the existing defined contribution plan administered by PERA and specifies that all employees who are members of the existing defined contribution plan shall become members of a newly established defined contribution plan (new DC plan). The bill establishes the new DC plan for public employees and requires that an employee first hired on or after January 1, 2011, shall become a member of the new DC plan and shall not have the option to become a member of the defined benefit plan. Employees who are members of the defined benefit plan and who are not entitled to full or partial retirement benefits are allowed to make an irrevocable election to participate in the new DC plan. In connection with the new DC plan, the bill:

• Specifies the amount of employee and employer contributions that shall be made to the individual account of an employee who is a member of the new DC plan;
• Specifies the vesting requirements for members of the new DC plan;
• Allows each member of the new DC plan to exercise control of the investment of the member's account under the new DC plan;
• Directs the board to select investment alternatives for the members of the new DC plan that provide a choice between risk and return in the investment;
• Specifies that the new DC plan shall offer at least one alternative to allow members to invest in tangible precious metals or commodities;
• Specifies that PERA and employers shall not be responsible for any financial losses experienced by members in the new DC plan;
• Directs the board to establish distribution options for members in the new DC plan;
• Specifies the rights of members in the new DC plan;
• Requires that a retiree who returns to work shall become a member of the new DC plan for any service after retirement;
• Requires that a member or DPS member who is a member of the defined benefit plan but then begins employment with a new PERA employer on or after January 1, 2011, shall become a member of the new DC plan, regardless of whether the new and previous employers are in the same division of PERA.

The bill distinguishes, where necessary, the education of gifted children from that of children with disabilities in the "Exceptional Children's Educational Act". The state board of education is required to appoint a gifted education advisory committee to assist with issues related to gifted education services and programs. The proper use of funding for the education of gifted children is clarified. Language is added in the bill concerning the determination of giftedness and the creation of a gifted child's advanced learning plan, including what is required to be included in that plan.

The bill makes conforming amendments.

Current law regulating campaign finance does not set limits on contributions to candidates for school district director and members of the board of directors of the regional transportation district (RTD). The bill sets aggregate limits on contributions from persons that are not small donor committees for any primary, general, or other specific election as follows:

• RTD director, $2,500; and
• School district director, $2,500.

The bill also sets aggregate limits on contributions from small donor committees for any primary, general, or other specific election as follows:

• RTD director, $5,000; and
• School district director,$5,000.

The bill also specifies that existing statutory provisions governing the disclosure of campaign contributions apply to the new contribution limits contained in the bill.

The bill also contains requirements applicable to when a candidate for school district director is required to provide disclosure of information concerning campaign contributions, and clarifies that candidates for RTD and school district director are required to file their disclosure with the secretary of state.

In section 1, the bill recognizes the importance of visual arts and performing arts in public education. Section 2 of the bill requires each public school in the state to provide visual arts and performing arts education. Demonstration of proficiency regarding the visual arts and performing arts standards will be a condition of high school graduation from the public schools of the state beginning with the ninth-grade class of 2010-11.

Under current law, the state board of education must adopt rules describing the minimum contents of each student's individual career and academic plan. Section 3 of the bill requires each plan to include the student's progress in visual arts and performing arts classes.

Sections 4-8 of the bill amend several provisions of the "Preschool to Postsecondary Education Alignment Act" to specifically incorporate visual arts and performing arts education into the standards, assessments, and postsecondary and workforce readiness program that the state board of education and local education providers adopt.

Sections 9-13 of the bill recognize the importance of visual arts and performing arts education in preventing student dropouts and in helping local education providers re-engage students in school. Under current law, the office of dropout prevention and student re-engagement, in the department of education, collaborates with several community organizations. The bill includes private nonprofit or for-profit community arts organizations in the list of collaborative agencies. Certain local education providers are currently required to assess their practices related to student dropouts and re-engagement. The bill includes policies and practices related to visual arts and performing arts education in the assessment. Those local education providers that adopt student graduation and completion plans are encouraged to include increased availability of visual arts and performing arts education in those plans. The bill also specifies visual arts and performing arts education as education services for which a local education provider may seek grant moneys under the student re-engagement grant program.

Sections 14 and 15 of the bill conform the definition of arts-based activity in the dropout prevention activity grant program with the definitions of visual arts and performing arts created in the bill.

Section 16 of the bill clarifies that career and technical education for which a school district, board of cooperative services, or charter school may receive funding includes visual arts and performing arts education.

The bill requires the department of human services (department) to provide written notification to a school district, charter school, or institute charter school (school) 10 days prior to enrollment of a student who has been placed in out-of-home placement and is identified as potentially presenting a risk to himself or herself or the community (student). In a case where the student requires an emergency placement, the bill requires the department to provide written notification to the school 5 days prior to the student's enrollment. The school is encouraged to use the notification period to gather medical, mental health, sociological, and scholastic achievement data about the student from various sources to develop a transition plan for the student.

The department of human services and the department of education are required to enter into a memorandum of understanding that includes, at a minimum:

(1) A consistent and uniform approach to sharing medical, mental health, sociological, and scholastic achievement data about students between a school district, charter school, or institute charter school and the county department of social services to better facilitate the creation of transition plans for those students and ensure the safety of the people in the school community;

(2) A plan for utilizing existing state and federal data and any existing information-sharing activities;

(3) An appeals process to follow if there is a disagreement between a school district, charter school, or institute charter school and the county department of social services regarding the enrollment of a student; and

(4) A plan for determining accountability concerning the use of the notification periods and the number of emergency placements that occur.

Section 1 of the bill specifies that this is the "Quality Education and Budget Reduction Act".

Section 2 of the bill specifies a nonstatutory legislative declaration regarding the fiscal impact of the bill.

Section 3 of the bill establishes a private school tuition income tax credit for income tax years commencing on or after January 1, 2011, that allows any taxpayer to claim a credit when a private school issues the taxpayer a credit certificate for enrolling a dependent qualified child in the private school or offers a scholarship to a qualified child for enrollment in the private school. This section allows the credit to be carried forward for 3 years but not be refunded and grants the department of revenue rule-making authority. The amount of the credit is:

• For any qualified child attending a private school on a full-time basis as described in the state board of education rules, either an amount equal to the scholarship offered to a qualified child or 50% of the previous year's state average per pupil revenue, whichever is less; and
• For any qualified child attending a private school on a half-time basis as described in the state board of education rules, either an amount equal to the scholarship offered to a qualified child or 25% of the previous year's state average per pupil revenue, whichever is less.

Section 4 of the bill establishes an income tax credit for taxpayers who decide to home-school a qualified child, commencing on or after January 1, 2011, that allows any taxpayer who decides to home-school a qualified child to claim an income tax credit:

• In an amount equal to $500 for a taxpayer who home-schools a qualified child who was enrolled on a half-time basis as described in the state board of education rules in a public school in the state prior to being home-schooled; and
• In an amount equal to $1,000 for a taxpayer who home-schools a qualified child who was enrolled on a full-time basis as described in the state board of education rules in a public school in the state prior to being home-schooled.

The bill creates a new income tax credit for the income tax year commencing January 1, 2011, and each income tax year thereafter, of $1,000 for a taxpayer that enrolls a qualified child in private school.

The bill defines a qualified child as a dependent child enrolled on a full-time basis in a public school in the state or any dependent child whowould be entering a public school kindergarten program in the state. The bill further states that a qualified child is not a dependent child enrolled in any private school in the state for the school year prior to the effective date of the bill or a dependent child home-schooled in the state as of the effective date of the bill. Once a dependent child becomes a qualified child, the dependent child will remain a qualified child so long as he or she remains dependent and enrolled in a private school in the state.

The bill specifies that the credit is refundable and requires the private school to issue credit certificates, which are then required to be filed with the taxpayer's income tax return.

The bill also requires a grant to be made to any public school district that loses a student for whom an income tax credit is claimed. That school district would receive a $1,000 grant for each student the district loses for which a credit is claimed. The grant must then be distributed by the school district to the particular school the qualified child would have attended if he or she had not been enrolled in a private school. The grant is received by the school district for every year that the qualified child is enrolled in private school.

Budget Package Bill. Current law provides all school districts with a minimum amount of state funding (minimum state aid), notwithstanding the state and local shares of total program funding as determined through the "Public School Finance Act of 1994"(act).

The bill suspends the minimum state aid requirement for the 2010-11 through 2014-15 budget years. In connection with the suspension, the bill requires the department of education (department) to submit a report to the joint budget committee and the education committees of the house of representatives and the senate regarding the estimated fiscal impact of and the potential number of districts that will be impacted by the reinstatement of the minimum state aid requirement in the 2015-16 budget year.

If a supplemental appropriation is not made by the general assembly to fully fund the state's share of total program of all districts, including funding for institute charter schools, or if a supplemental appropriation is made to reduce the state's share of the total program of all districts, including funding for institute charter schools, the bill requires the state aid of each district to be reduced by the amount of the required reduction or the amount of state aid, whichever is less, even if, for the 2009-10 budget year or any budget year thereafter, the reduction would result in a district receiving less state aid than the amount of minimum state aid for the applicable budget year.

In addition, to offset the direct and indirect administrative costs incurred by the department in implementing the provisions of the act, current law authorizes the total program of each district that receives state aid and the total funding for each institute charter school to be reduced by a certain percentage. The bill allows the state aid of each district to be reduced by the amount of the required reduction or the amount of state aid, whichever is less, even if, for the 2009-10 budget year or any budget year thereafter, the reduction would result in a district receiving less state aid than the amount of minimum state aid for the applicable budget year.

The bill authorizes each board of cooperative services (BOCES) to maintain, equip, and operate a food-service facility as a school food authority. The bill creates the BOCES healthy food grant program (program) in the department of education (department) to: (1) Make grants available to BOCES that maintain, equip, and operate food-service facilities as school food authorities; and (2) require each BOCES that receives a grant from the program to procure and distribute to schools of its constituent school districts only food and beverages that satisfy certain nutritional standards. The bill sets forth an application process for the program and permissible uses of grant moneys. The BOCES healthy food grant program cash fund (fund) is created, and the department is authorized to expend no more than 10% of the moneys appropriated to the fund to offset the direct and indirect costs incurred by the department in implementing the program.

The department is required to prepare and submit to the education committees of the house of representatives and the senate a report that describes the activities carried out under the program and evaluates the effectiveness of the program.

The state board of education is required to promulgate rules establishing policies and procedures for the administration of the program.

The program is repealed, effective July 1, 2015.

The bill includes conforming amendments.

The bill authorizes the division of criminal justice in the department of public safety (department) to expend any state, federal, or other moneys made available under any law or program designed to improve the administration of criminal justice, court systems, law enforcement, prosecution, corrections, probation and parole, juvenile delinquency programs, and related fields.

The bill creates the school safety resource center cash fund (fund) and authorizes the department to solicit and accept gifts, grants, and donations for the purpose of implementing the school safety resource center (resource center). The department is authorized to expend moneys from the fund for the purpose of implementing the resource center. The department may expend up to 2% of the moneys annually appropriated from the fund to offset the costs incurred in implementing the resource center. The resource center is authorized to charge a fee to each attendee of a training program or conference that the center implements. The total amount of fees charged by the center to attendees of a training program or conference shall not exceed the actual costs incurred by the center in implementing the training program or conference.

In order to meet anticipated federal "Clean Air Act" requirements to reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants, section 1 of the bill requires all rate-regulated utilities that own or operate coal-fired electric generating units to submit to the public utilities commission (PUC) an emission reduction plan for emissions from those units covering the lesser of 900 megawatts or 50% of the utility's coal-fired electric generating units in Colorado. The plans have to give primary consideration to replacing or repowering coal-fired electric generators with natural gas and to also consider other low-emitting resources, including energy efficiency.

The PUC will provide the department of public health and environment (department) an opportunity to comment on the utilities' plans. The department will determine whether certain new or repowered electric generating units proposed under the plans will emit more than 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour and whether the plans comply with applicable requirements of the federal and state clean air laws. The plans are to be implemented by December 31, 2017.

In evaluating the plans, the PUC is to consider the following factors: The pollution reductions to be achieved; the increased use of existing natural gas-fired electric generating capacity; and the plan's effect on economic development, electricity reliability, cost and rate increases, compliance with renewable energy standards, and reliance on energy efficiency or other low-emitting resources. The PUC is to approve, deny, or modify the plans by December 15, 2010. The utilities' actions in complying with the plans are presumed to be prudent actions, the costs of which are recoverable in rates.

The air quality control commission will consider incorporating the emissions reductions derived from the plans into the regional haze element of the state implementation plan. Early reductions of greenhouse gas emissions will count as voluntary for purposes of early reduction credits under federal law.

Section 2 authorizes the PUC to approve interim rates taking effect no later than 60 days after a rate increase filing. Section 3 directs the PUC to require a utility to rebate rates if a final rate is lower than an interim rate.

The bill amends the "Public School Finance Act of 1994" to modify the funding for public schools from kindergarten through the twelfth grade for the 2010-11 budget year.

Statewide base per pupil funding. For the 2010-11 budget year, the statewide base per pupil funding increases to $5,529.71 to account for a -0.6% inflation rate plus one percentage point.

State budget stabilization reduction. To assist in stabilizing the state budget, for the 2010-11 budget year, a reduction in the amount of the annual appropriation to fund the state's share of total program funding for all school districts (districts) and the funding for institute charter schools is necessary. The department of education (department) and the legislative council staff are required to determine the amount of the reduction that will ensure that the total program funding for all districts, including the funding for institute charter schools, will not be less than $5,438,295,823 for the 2010-11 budget year. Said amount is $260 million less than the amount of total program funding associated with the original appropriation for the state's share of total program funding for all districts and the funding for institute charter schools for the 2009-10 budget year.

The department will calculate and apply the reduction to all districts. Specifically, the department will:

• Calculate a state budget stabilization factor by dividing the reduction amount as determined by the department and the legislative council staff by the sum of total program for all districts for the 2010-11 budget year as calculated pursuant to current law; and
• Calculate the amount of each district's state budget stabilization reduction by multiplying the district's total program for the 2010-11 budget year as calculated pursuant to current law by the state budget stabilization factor.

A district's total program funding for the 2010-11 budget year shall be the greater of:

• The amount of the district's total program as calculated pursuant to current law, including any funding for institute charter schools, minus the district's state budget stabilization reduction amount; or
• The base per pupil funding amount multiplied by the district's funded pupil count.

The department will also apply the state budget stabilization factor to a district's on-line funding and a district's accelerating students through concurrent enrollment (ASCENT) program pupil funding.

Categorical buy-out districts - hold mill levy harmless. For any district that levies the number of mills that will generate property tax revenue in an amount equal to the district's total program (categorical buy-out district), the district's total program shall be the district's total program as calculated before the budget stabilization factor is applied.

Categorical buy-out districts - application of state budget stabilization reduction. In any budget year in which the state budget stabilization reduction is applied to total program, each categorical buy-out district shall reduce the amount of property tax revenue that it is authorized to raise and expend pursuant to a mill levy override election by the amount of the district's state budget stabilization reduction.

District's mill levy override limit - hold harmless. For the purpose of determining the maximum amount of additional local property tax revenues that a district may receive, a district's total program shall be the district's total program as calculated before the budget stabilization factor is applied.

Currently, several income tax and sales and use tax credits are available to qualified taxpayers through the "Urban and Rural Enterprise Zone Act" (act). The bill eliminates the credits available through the act as of January 1, 2011. Specifically, the bill limits the following income tax credits allowed pursuant to the act to income tax years commencing prior to January 1, 2011: The credit for contributions to enterprise zone administrators to implement economic development plans, the credit for investment in property that is used solely and exclusively in an enterprise zone for at least a year, the credit for an investment made in a qualified job training program, the credit for hiring new business facility employees, the credit for expenditures in research and experimental activities for the purpose of carrying out trade or business, and the credit for an expenditure to rehabilitate a vacant building.

In addition, beginning on January 1, 2011, the bill eliminates the sales and use tax exemption for purchases of machinery or machine tools to be used solely and exclusively in an enterprise zone.

The bill creates the "Healthy Families and Workplaces Act" (act), which requires all private employers in Colorado to provide paid sick leave to their employees, accrued at one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked, subject to the following limits:

• For employers employing 10 or more employees, the employer is not required to provide more than a total of 72 hours of paid sick leave in a 12-month period; and
•  For employers employing fewer than 10 employees, the employer is not required to provide more than a total of 40 hours of paid sick leave in a 12-month period.

An employee would start accruing paid sick leave when his or her employment begins and would be permitted to use his or her accrued paid sick leave as it is accrued.

Additionally, an employee would be allowed to carry forward and use in subsequent calendar years paid sick leave that is not used in the year in which it is accrued, subject to the caps on the total amount of leave allowed in a 12-month period.

Employees may use accrued paid sick leave to be absent from work for the following purposes:

• The employee has a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition, needs a medical diagnosis, care, or treatment related to such illness, injury, or condition, or needs to obtain preventive medical care;
• The employee needs to care for a family member who has a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition, needs a medical diagnosis, care, or treatment related to such illness, injury, or condition, or needs to obtain preventive medical care;
• The employee or family member has been the victim of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking and needs to be absent from work for purposes related to such crime; or
• A public official has ordered the closure of the school or place of care of the employee's child or of the employee's place of business due to a public health emergency, necessitating the employee's absence from work.

The bill prohibits an employer from retaliating against an employee who uses his or her paid sick leave or otherwise exercises his or her rights under the act. Employers are required to notify employees of their rights under the act by providing employees with a written notice of their rights and displaying a poster, developed by the division of labor (division) in the department of labor and employment, detailing employees' rights under the act.

Employers must retain records documenting, by employee, the hours worked, paid sick leave accrued, and paid sick leave used and make such records available to the division to monitor compliance with the act.

The director of the division will implement and enforce the act and adopt rules necessary for such purposes. The bill treats an employee's information about his, her, or a family member's health condition or domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking case as confidential, and prohibits an employer from disclosing such information or requiring the employee to disclose such information as a condition of using paid sick leave.

Employers, including public employers, that provide comparable paid leave to their employees and allow employees to use that leave as permitted under the act are not required to provide additional paid sick leave to their employees.

Employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement would not be entitled to sick leave under the act if the collective bargaining agreement expressly waives the requirements of the act and provides an equivalent benefit to covered employees.

For purposes of authorizing a district attorney to directly file charges in district court against a juvenile (direct file), the bill changes the minimum age of the defendant from 14 to 16 years, except in the case of first degree murder, second degree murder, or a sex offense. At least 14 days prior to filing the charges in district court, the district attorney must file the charges in juvenile court with a notice of decision on direct file. The bill lists the criteria that the district attorney must consider in determining whether to direct file charges against a juvenile. The district attorney must submit a written statement listing the criteria the district attorney relied upon in deciding to direct file.

The bill permits a juvenile convicted in district court of a class 2 felony nonsex offense to be sentenced to the youthful offender system.

The bill changes various provisions of the application process for charter schools. The reviewing school district board of education (local board) for a charter school application (application) shall maintain a record of its review of the application. If the local board determines that an application is incomplete, it shall notify the charter applicant of that within 7 calendar days and request the necessary supplemental information. The charter school applicant shall have 7 calendar days following notification to provide any requested information. An individual who testifies at a community meeting regarding an application is required to identify any affiliation he or she has with the school district or charter applicant. If a local board does not review or denies an application, it shall state its reasons for so doing, including providing specific findings of fact and an application of those findings of fact to the standards for charter schools. The standards for charter schools applied by the school districts shall be established by rule of the state board of education (state board).

If a charter applicant appeals to the state board concerning a decision of the local board concerning an application, it shall bear the burden of proving that the local board failed to make a finding based on the standards for charter schools to be applied by the school district or some other ground permitted by law or that the local board's decision was not supported by the record.

During the 2009 legislative session, the general assembly enacted legislation (merger legislation) to merge the public employees' retirement association (PERA) and the Denver public schools retirement system (DPSRS). In accordance with the merger legislation, Denver public school district (DPS) employees became subject to many of the rules and statutory provisions that govern the benefits for people who were PERA members before the merger took effect. One such statutory provision limits a retiree's ability to work without penalty for a PERA employer, including DPS on and after January 1, 2010, while receiving a retirement benefit check (postretirement employment limit). The current postretirement employment limit limits PERA retirees to 110 days or 720 hours of employment in a calendar year without penalty.

The merger legislation included an exemption from the postretirement employment limit for a person who is a PERA retiree and who was an active member of the DPSRS immediately before the merger took effect. However, the merger legislation specified that the exemption from the postretirement employment limit did not apply to a person who is a PERA retiree and who was an hourly employee of DPS and therefore not a member of the DPSRS when the merger took effect.

The bill provides an exemption from the postretirement employment limit for a PERA retiree who was an hourly employee of DPS or a DPS charter school when the merger took effect, so long as the retiree continues to be employed by the same pre-merger employer. The bill requires such a retiree to make the working retiree contribution required by law and requires the DPS or DPS charter school to make the applicable employer contribution, amortization equalization disbursement, and supplemental amortization equalization disbursement payments required by law.

Section 1 of the bill makes legislative findings concerning the Colorado student assessment program (CSAP) and states the legislature's intent to replace the current assessments administered in the 9th, 10th, and 11th grades, starting in the 2010-11 academic year.

The general assembly also states its expectations with regard to the new statewide assessment system that the state board of education (state board) is developing.

Sections 2 through 4 address changes to assessments administered under the existing CSAP. Detailed language concerning the statewide assessments administered through the CSAP is repealed and replaced with a general requirement to administer the CSAP in reading, writing, mathematics and science. However, the department of education (department) will:

• Replace the 9th-grade CSAP assessments with the postsecondary and workforce planning assessment, to be administered by the state starting in the 2010-11 academic year;
• Replace the 10th-grade CSAP assessments with the postsecondary and workforce preparation assessment, to be administered by the state starting in the 2011-12 academic year; and
• Replace the 11th-grade curriculum-based, achievement college entrance exam with the postsecondary and workforce readiness assessment to be administered by the state starting in the 2012-13 academic year.

The CSAP is repealed, effective July 1, 2013.

Sections 5 through 12 of the bill address the new statewide assessment system (system) that the state board is developing. The dates for adopting the new system and related changes are extended; the state board is required to adopt the postsecondary and workforce planning, preparation, and readiness assessments within the next 3 years and to ensure that the entire system is in place no later than the 2013-14 academic year. The system is to include statewide, summative assessments only in mathematics and reading, as adopted by the state board working with a state consortia. The system will also include formative and interim assessments adopted and administered by the local education providers.

The state board, by rule, will specify minimum parameters for the interim assessments. The results of the statewide summative assessments and the postsecondary and workforce readiness assessments are the only assessment data that the department may collect and include in the Colorado growth model. The local education providers are to use the results of the formative and interim assessments for diagnostic purposes. The state board will convene an assessment stakeholder committee (committee) to assist in designing the system. The department will also work with the committee to create a resource bank of interim assessments, best practices, rubrics, and other tools to support local education providers adopting and implementing their assessments. To the extent practicable and economically feasible, the new system is to include, but is not limited to, on-line and electronic assessments. All of the assessments included in the system must be valid and reliable, measure twenty-first century skills, and provide relevant, useable information.

Because of changes to accreditation previously enacted, the bill repeals as obsolete language referring to school performance ratings.

The bill contains benefit and contribution changes to the benefit plans of the public employees' retirement association (PERA) to achieve a sound actuarial response to PERA's current financial situation. The bill makes changes to fully amortize the unfunded actuarial accrued liability of each of PERA's divisions and thereby reach a 100% funded ratio for each division within the next 30 years.

The bill contains the following three main changes and several additional changes to accomplish the 100% funded ratio:

2% increase in the amortization equalization disbursement (AED). The AED is a contribution made by each PERA employer, in addition to the employer contribution, that was enacted by the general assembly as a means of improving the funded ratio of the retirement plans administered by PERA. The AED began in the 2006 calendar year and was 0.5% of each PERA employer's total payroll. The AED increased by 0.5% for the 2007 calendar year. For employers in all divisions of PERA, current law requires the AED to increase by an additional 0.4% in the 2008 through 2012 calendar years for a total AED equal to 3% of the employer's total payroll.

The bill makes several modifications to the AED as follows:

• For employers in the state, school, and DPS divisions only, the bill extends the annual increases in the AED through the 2017 calendar year. For each of those calendar years, the AED increases by 0.4% of the employer's total payroll. After the 2017 increase, the total AED for these 3 divisions will be 5% of the employer's total payroll.

• In any year that the actuarial funded ratio of the state, school, or DPS division of PERA is at or above 103%, the bill requires the AED for that particular division to be reduced by 0.5%. Subsequent to reaching a 103% funded ratio, in any year that the actuarial funded ratio of any of these 3 divisions of PERA falls below 90%, the bill requires the AED for that particular division to be increased by 0.5%; except that the AED shall not exceed 5%.

• For employers in the local government division and the judicial division only, the bill freezes the annual increases in the AED beginning with the 2011 calendar year. For these 2 divisions, the bill maintains the AED at the 2010 rate of 2.2% of the employer's total payroll.

• In any year that the actuarial funded ratio of the local government or judicial division of PERA is at or above 103%, the bill requires the AED for that particular division to be reduced by 0.5%. Subsequent to reaching a 90% funded ratio, in any year that the actuarial funded ratio of either such division of PERA falls below 90%, the bill requires the AED for that particular division to be increased by 0.5%; except that the AED shall not exceed 5%.

2% increase in the supplemental amortization equalization disbursement (SAED). The SAED is a contribution made by each PERA employer but is funded from moneys that would otherwise be used by the employer for employees' annual raises. The SAED is in addition to the employer and employee contributions and the AED. Like the AED, it was enacted by the general assembly as a means of improving the funded ratio of the retirement plans administered by PERA. The SAED began in the 2008 calendar year and was 0.5% of each PERA employer's total payroll. For employers in all divisions of PERA, current law requires the SAED to increase by an additional 0.5% in the 2009 through the 2013 calendar years for a total SAED equal to 3% of the employer's total payroll.

The bill also makes several modifications to the SAED as follows:

• For the employers in the state, school, and DPS divisions only, the bill extends the annual increases in the SAED through the 2017 calendar year. For each of those calendar years, the SAED increases by 0.5% of the employer's total payroll. After the 2017 increase, the total SAED for these 3 divisions will be 5% of the employer's total payroll, but it will be funded from moneys that would have otherwise been used for employees' annual raises.

• In any year that the actuarial funded ratio of the state, school, or DPS division of PERA is at or above 103%, the bill requires the SAED for that particular division to be reduced by 0.5%. Subsequent to reaching a 103% funded ratio, in any year that the actuarial funded ratio of any of these 3 divisions of PERA falls below 90%, the bill requires the SAED for that particular division to be increased by 0.5%; except that the SAED shall not exceed 5%.

• For employers in the local government division and the judicial division only, the bill freezes the annual increases in the SAED beginning with the 2011 calendar year. For these 2 divisions, the bill maintains the SAED at the 2010 rate of 1.5% of the employer's total payroll, but, to the extent allowed by law, it will be funded from moneys that would have otherwise been used for employees' annual raises.

• In any year that the actuarial funded ratio of the local government or judicial division of PERA is at or above 103%, the bill requires the SAED for that particular division to be reduced by 0.5%. Subsequent to reaching a 90% funded ratio, in any year that the actuarial funded ratio of either such division of PERA falls below 90%, the bill requires the SAED for that particular division to be increased by 0.5%; except that the SAED shall not exceed 5%.

2% cap on the cost of living adjustment (COLA) for all retirees, members, and inactive members. Currently, the annual COLA for benefit recipients is either 3.5% or the lesser of 3% or inflation, depending on when the member began membership in PERA. For the years 2010 and 2011, the bill reduces the COLA to the lesser of 2% or inflation and requires the inflation calculation to be based on specified periods during the 2008 and 2009 calendar years, resulting in a 0% or near 0% COLA for those 2 years. For the year 2012 and each year thereafter, the bill changes the COLA to the applicable COLA cap, which will be 2% for the foreseeable future, unless PERA experiences a year with a negative investment return. A year with a negative investment return triggers a 3-year period during which the COLA will be the lesser of inflation or the COLA cap. The bill makes the following additional changes regarding the COLA:

• Specifies that benefits for all benefit recipients will be adjusted with the COLA each year with the July benefit.

• Requires benefit recipients whose effective date of retirement is on or after January 1, 2011, to receive benefits for at least a 12-month period following retirement before the benefit is adjusted with the COLA. In addition, for members who are not eligible to retire as of January 1, 2011, the bill requires that members retiring with a reduced service retirement reach the age of 60 or meet the applicable age and service requirement for a full service retirement to be eligible to receive the COLA.

• Increases the 2% COLA limit by 0.25% in each year that the actuarial funded ratio of PERA is at or above 103%. If, after reaching a 103% funded ratio, the funded ratio subsequently falls below 90%, the bill reduces the COLA limit by 0.25% in each year that the funded ratio is below 90%, but specifies that the COLA limit will never go below 2%. This change applies to the COLA for all current and future retirees.

Additional change for PERA employers. The bill makes the following change that affects employers in only the school and DPS divisions:

• Eliminate increase in employer contribution. Pursuant to current law, the employer contribution for employers in the school division and the DPS division will increase by 0.4% beginning in 2013. The bill eliminates this increase and maintains the employer contribution of 10.15% for the school division and 13.75% for the DPS division.

Additional changes for active and inactive PERA members. The bill makes several additional changes that affect active and inactive members as follows:

• Highest Average Salary (HAS). Currently, a PERA member's HAS is based on an average of the highest annual salaries associated with 3 periods of 12 consecutive months of service with a base year. Current law also imposes either an 8% or 15% cap on the amount of salary increase from one year to the next that will be counted toward the HAS calculation, depending on whether a person was a member, inactive member, or retiree on certain dates. For members who are not yet able to draw a full or reduced service retirement benefit on January 1, 2011, the bill maintains the current 3-year HAS calculation but imposes an 8% cap on the amount of salary increase from one year to the next that will be counted toward the HAS calculation.

• 50% employer matching contribution. Currently, all members who receive a refund of their PERA accounts prior to meeting the age and service requirements for a retirement benefit receive a matching employer contribution that is equal to 50% of the employee contributions in the member's contribution account. The bill eliminates the 50% matching contribution for members who receive a refund when they have fewer than 5 years of earned service credit. Employees who have fewer than 5 years of service credit on the effective date of the bill and who receive a refund of their account will receive the 50% match on any employee contributions made through the effective date of the bill.

• Service retirement eligibility. A member is currently required to have 30 years of service and to have reached the age of 50 or 55, depending on when the employee began employment with a PERA employer, to retire with a full retirement benefit. This is commonly known as the rule of 80 or the rule of 85, respectively. The bill modifies the age and service requirements for a full service retirement as follows: For existing members with less than 5 years of service credit, the rule of 85 applies with a required minimum age of 55 to retire. For members hired on or after January 1, 2011, but prior to January 1, 2017, the bill creates a new rule of 88 by requiring members to have 30 years of service and to have reached the age of 58 to retire with a full retirement benefit. For members hired on or after January 1, 2017, the bill creates a new rule of 90 by requiring members to have 30 years of service and to have reached the age of 60 to retire with a full retirement benefit. These changes do not apply to state troopers.

• Early retirement reduction factors. Under current law, the retirement benefit for members who retire early is reduced by a certain percentage, depending on when the member retires, for each year or fraction of a year that the member would have had to work to be eligible for a full retirement benefit. The bill changes the reduction factor to the actuarial cost of the reduction to ensure that early retirement benefits are not greater than the actuarial equivalent of a full service retirement benefit at the earliest date of retirement eligibility. This change applies to members who are not eligible to draw a retirement benefit on January 1, 2011.

• COLA. Currently, the benefit of any vested inactive member who began PERA membership on or before December 31, 2006, and who terminated PERA membership with at least 25 years of service credit is increased by the COLA that would have been granted to the account if the retirement benefit had been paid since the date of termination of membership. The bill eliminates this provision for members who are not eligible to draw a benefit on January 1, 2011.

Additional changes for PERA retirees. The bill makes the following additional changes for PERA retirees who return to employment with a PERA employer after retirement:

• Working retiree contribution. Currently, when a retiree returns to work for a PERA employer without suspending his or her retirement, the retiree is not required to pay member contributions to PERA. The bill requires a retiree who returns to work for a PERA employer to make a working retiree contribution to PERA. The bill specifies that the working retiree contribution is an amount equal to what would be paid to PERA as a member contribution, but that the working retiree contribution is not considered a member contribution and will not be deposited in the retiree's member contribution account.

• Employment after service retirement for members in the school and DPS divisions and higher education members in the state division. Current law limits the number of hours and days that a service retiree may work for a PERA employer to 110 days in a calendar year if the retiree works for more than 4 hours a day or 720 hours in a calendar year if the retiree works for less than 4 hours a day. For each PERA employer in the school and DPS divisions and the higher education employers in the state division, the bill increases the maximum number of days that a retiree may work to 140 days in a calendar year if the retiree works for more than 4 hours a day or 916 hours in the calendar year if the retiree works for less than 4 hours a day. Such increases apply to only 10 employees for each employer in the school division and DPS division and each higher education employer in the state division. In addition, the bill specifies that for the first 110 days of such employment, the employer shall submit the employer contribution, the working retiree contribution, the AED, and the SAED to PERA and for the last 30 days of such employment, all such contributions shall be funded by a reduction in the salary of the service retiree.

• Benefit calculation for service earned after retirement. The bill prevents retirees who suspend their retirement benefit and return to work for a PERA employer from adding service credit to their original retirement benefit. Instead, the bill requires that each period of service for a PERA employer after retirement be calculated as a separate benefit segment under the benefit structure that was in place when the retiree originally retired. If the retiree works for at least a year, the retiree is entitled to an additional benefit upon re-retirement or can choose a refund of any moneys credited to the member's contribution account during the period that the retiree worked after retirement, plus the applicable employer matching contribution. If the retiree works for less than a year, the retiree is entitled to the refund only.

• Optional retirement plan. The bill allows a retiree working for an institution of higher education to suspend retirement benefits and return to PERA membership pursuant to PERA laws. In addition, the bill specifies that a retiree in an optional retirement plan who has returned to work at an institution of higher education without suspending his or her benefit is not subject to the working retiree contribution.

DPS division. The bill implements the same changes to the DPS division of PERA as are implemented to the school division to fully amortize the unfunded actuarial accrued liability of the DPS division.

PERA board of trustees. The bill requires the PERA board of trustees to determine the total aggregate actuarial funded ratio of PERA and then to determine the actuarial funded ratio of each division separately. The bill requires PERA to submit a report to the general assembly on January 1, 2016, and every 5 years thereafter, regarding the economic impact of the changes included in the bill to the annual increase provisions on the retirees and benefit recipients as compared to the actual rate of inflation and the progress made toward eliminating the unfunded liabilities of each division of PERA.

Early Childhood and School Readiness Legislative Commission. Contingent upon the receipt and allocation of certain federal moneys or upon receipt of gifts, grants, and donations, the bill authorizes the department of education (department) to distribute moneys to public schools through a grant program to provide continuity in the nature and quality of services that children in kindergarten receive after they have transitioned from the Colorado preschool program or a head start program to kindergarten.

The public schools receiving the grant moneys shall determine the appropriate services to provide to the kindergarten children consistent with the provisions of the grant program. Public schools are encouraged to follow basic program standards established for the Colorado preschool program as they may apply to the kindergarten classroom and to implement evidence-based practices in early childhood education, which may include but need not be limited to smaller class size, fewer children per teacher, parental engagement, and specialized professional development for classroom staff.

The department may provide technical assistance to local education providers in implementing the basic program standards in the kindergarten classroom and in implementing evidence-based practices in early childhood education in the classroom.

The department shall develop and administer a process to distribute the grant moneys to public schools. The department is authorized to accept federal moneys or gifts, grants, or donations for the purposes of the grant program.

The state board of education shall adopt rules necessary for the implementation and administration of the grant program.

The commissioner of education shall notify the revisor of statutes in the event federal moneys or gifts, grants, or donations are not received to implement the grant program or if there are no federal moneys or gifts, grants, and donations remaining to award grants. Upon receipt of notice, the provisions of the bill are repealed.

Interim Committee to Study School Finance. Under current law, the pupil enrollment of a school district is determined based on the number of pupils enrolled on October 1 of the applicable budget year as evidenced by the actual attendance of such pupils prior to such date. The bill directs the department of education (department) to contract for a study to evaluate the feasibility, design, and impact of a system to determine pupil enrollment based on the average number of days that each pupil is enrolled in school during the school year (average daily membership) rather than based on a single count date; except that the department shall contract for the study only if:

• The state receives, and makes available to the department, federal race to the top fund moneys;
• The department is able to secure federal funding from another source in an amount necessary to cover the costs of the study; or
• The department receives gifts, grants, or donations in an amount necessary to cover the costs of the study.

The bill requires the department to incorporate any previous studies or information gathered regarding average daily membership into the study, and the staff of the school finance unit of the department is required to oversee the study.

When the department receives the necessary funding to contract for the study, the department is required to notify the general assembly. The bill directs the department to submit a report to the general assembly within 2 years after the time that the department notifies the general assembly that it has received sufficient funding to conduct the study.

The bill prohibits the use of state moneys for the purposes of conducting the average daily membership study. In addition, the bill authorizes the department to receive gifts, grants, and donations to use in conducting the study and creates the average daily membership study fund in the state treasury. The bill specifies that any gifts, grants, or donations received for the study shall be deposited into the fund.

The bill creates efficiencies and cost savings in state and local government by:

• Eliminating all duties of the office of the executive director of the department of local affairs and directing those duties and appropriations to the lieutenant governor;
• Implementing a 2-year statewide hiring freeze that will require the governor or his or her designee to sign off on all new hires. All new hires must meet the test of being critical to protecting the life, health, or safety of Colorado residents. The governor shall provide the general assembly a monthly report of each new hire made in that month.
• Eliminating all bonuses paid to any state employee for 2 years;
• Reducing the personnel budget of the governor's office, the executive directors' offices, and the directors of each principal department's offices to 2005-06 fiscal year levels;
• Reducing by 3% the number of all full-time equivalent state employees paid in whole or in part with general fund dollars within 5 years;
• Requiring the governor to report in writing to the general assembly by April 1, 2010, regarding the consolidation of existing boards and commissions;
• Authorizing the governor to repeal the Colorado commission on higher education and to direct any necessary responsibilities and appropriations to the lieutenant governor;
• Requiring the governor to report in writing to the general assembly by April 1, 2010, regarding which agencies and departments perform similar or redundant functions and should be consolidated;
• Limiting the governor's energy office to spending no more than 10% of its total budget on personnel;
• Requiring that all executive branch expenditures on professional organization dues and memberships be made from gifts, grants, or donations and not from any general fund or cash fund appropriation, except from cash funds established for the purpose of receiving gifts, grants, and donations;
• Requiring the state school board to strongly encourage school districts to create boards of cooperative services where feasible for the purpose of enabling 2 or more school districts to cooperate in furnishing services authorized by law and for consolidating central administrative services;
• Requiring that all actions performed by an existing or newly created board of cooperative services that result in cost savings to the member school districts, as compared to the cost of the school districts performing the same actions individually, to be calculated, and requiring each member school district to remit to the state general fund an amount equal to 50% of the savings realized by the member school district. However, such amount shall not exceed the amount the member school district received as its state share of total program funding for the applicable budget year.
• Requiring the governor to reduce by 10% the pay of all full-time equivalent state employees earning $125,000 or more annually, except employees of state institutions of higher education;
• Requiring the controller to transfer from the general fund to the newly created general fund overflow reserve fund an amount that he or she calculates to be the equivalent of the total amount of general fund moneys appropriated in all bills that are vetoed by the governor, including any general fund line item appropriation in the general appropriation act that is line-item vetoed by the governor;
• Removing the requirement that motor vehicles have a front license plate.

Beginning July 1, 2011, the bill requires the department of education (department) to prepare an annual report on educator preparation program effectiveness using data collected through the educator identifier system from an educator in his or her first 3 years of placement. The department shall make the report available to the public on its web site. The state board of education will promulgate rules regarding the methods of data collection and the content of the report. The state board is further required to use the report in its review of educator preparation programs.

The bill creates the state preparation and readiness of educators program fund for use by the department in implementing the provisions of the bill, and specifies that the department is not required to implement the bill until it receives sufficient moneys to do so.

The bill increases from 3 to 5 years the required length of continuous employment that a probationary teacher shall have before being classified as a nonprobationary teacher. Once a teacher is classified as a nonprobationary teacher, he or she shall be given a 5-year contract that shall be renewed every 5 years thereafter if the teacher receives a satisfactory final cumulative written evaluation report at the end of the 5-year period. If the board of education of the employing school district is not going to renew the nonprobationary teacher's contract, the board will provide written notice to the teacher and provide him or her with the reasons why the contract is not being renewed.

The bill makes conforming amendments.

The bill requires a school district to provide educational services during the school year to a juvenile who is held, pending trial as an adult, in a jail located within the school district. The school district is also required to comply with the federal "Individuals with Disabilities Education Act" if the juvenile has a disability. A school district is not required to provide educational services to a juvenile who has already graduated from high school or to a student who has received a GED, unless the student has a disability. A school district also does not have to provide educational services if:

• The juvenile refuses to receive the services, but the official in charge of the jail (official) must offer the services at least weekly and the school district must provide them upon the juvenile's acceptance; or
• The school district or the official determine that an appropriate and safe environment in which to provide the educational services is not available. If this occurs, the official must notify the juvenile's parents, his or her attorney, and the court.

The school district that provides the educational services may include the juvenile in its pupil enrollment if the school district is providing the services as of October 1 or may seek reimbursement from another school district or charter school if the juvenile was included in the other district's or charter school's pupil enrollment for the applicable budget year. If the juvenile was not included in the state's pupil enrollment, the school district may seek reimbursement from the department of education. The school district may also seek excess costs tuition from the juvenile's school district of residence if the juvenile is receiving special education services.

The official that receives a juvenile for holding pending trial as an adult must request educational services from the school district in which the jail is located and cooperate with the school district to provide an appropriate and safe environment in which to provide the services. The official will annually compile specified information concerning educational services received by the juveniles in the jail and report the information to the division of criminal justice in the department of public safety. The division of criminal justice will release the information upon request by a member of the public.

The bill eliminates the requirement that the allocation of the increases in funding for categorical education programs be reflected in the annual general appropriation bill. Instead, the general assembly will annually pass a bill, other than the annual general appropriation bill, that establishes the allocation of the increases in funding for categorical education programs. The staff of the joint budget committee will make recommendations annually to the education committees of the house of representatives and senate concerning the allocation of the increases in funding for categorical education programs.

The bill repeals the Colorado comprehensive health education fund and credits the moneys remaining in the fund on the repeal date to the state public school fund.

The bill requires the department of education to increase annually the amount of moneys distributed to each administrative unit for each child with disabilities receiving special education services from the administrative unit, which increase shall reflect the percentage increase in funding for special education programs for children with disabilities from the previous budget year to the current budget year.

The bill amends provisions of the education statutes to replace the term "student whose dominant language is not English" with "student with limited English proficiency".

The bill makes conforming amendments.

The bill establishes the "Religious Bill of Rights for Individuals Connected to Public Schools Act" (act), which requires the state board of education (state board) to adopt a religious bill of rights for public school students and parents and a religious bill of rights for public school teachers and employees (religious bills of rights) outlining each party's respective inalienable individual religious rights. The state board shall distribute the religious bills of rights to school district boards of education (local boards), and each local board shall adopt policies and procedures to implement the act, including the annual distribution of the religious bills of rights to students, parents, teachers, and employees of the school district. Additionally, local boards of education shall provide opt-out provisions to individuals for classes or course materials that are in conflict with the individual's religious beliefs.

The bill provides that individual members of local boards are personally liable for lawsuits brought under the act if the local board fails to adopt policies and procedures to implement the act or to ensure compliance with the act.

The bill enacts the "Public School Financial Transparency Act" (act), which requires each school district, district charter school, board of cooperative services, and institute charter school and the state charter school institute (local education provider) no later than September 1, 2011, to develop, maintain, and make publicly available a single, searchable, on-line, revenue and expenditure database (on-line database) that will allow a user to review at no cost information concerning moneys collected and expended by the local education provider.

The act sets forth the specific information that each on-line database will include. The local education provider must provide the data in an open, structured data format that allows the user to download and systematically sort, search, and access all of the data.

Each local education provider will update the data at least monthly, archive the data, make the data easily accessible from the local education provider's web site, and create a link to a service that allows users to be notified of updates to the on-line database.

The bill creates a 17-member food systems advisory council (council). The executive directors or their designees from the departments of public health and environment, agriculture, human services, education, and local affairs are 5 of the members of the council. The remaining 12 members are appointed by the governor, the president of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, the minority leader of the senate, and the minority leader of the house of representatives as outlined in the bill. Those 12 appointive members are representatives of 6 functional areas: Nutrition and health; agricultural production; food wholesalers and food retailers; anti-hunger and food assistance programs; economic development; and local government.

The purposes of the council are to:

• Identify and use existing studies of the food system and examples of best practices, whenever possible;
• Collaborate with other task forces, committees, or organizations with similar purposes;
• Develop local food policies for Colorado that contribute to building robust, resilient, and long-term local food economies;
• Develop policy recommendations regarding hunger and food access;
• Support the efforts of, be a resource to, and receive input from local and regional food policy councils in the state;

• Advise and recommend actions that state and local governments, businesses, agriculture, and consumers can take to build robust, resilient, and long-term local food economies.

The bill lists several policy issues that the council will consider and study. The council may appoint subcommittees in the following areas: Local and regional food councils, local government, and school districts.

The council may also appoint other subcommittees. The council may accept gifts, grants, donations, or federal funds to fund the work of the council. The council will annually report its findings and recommendations, including proposals for legislation or for administrative action, to the general assembly, the governor, and the commissioner of agriculture.

As an advisory committee, the council will undergo a sunset review and be repealed, effective July 1, 2013, unless extended by the general assembly.

The bill requires each public high school of a school district and each institute charter high school that uses an American Indian mascot to either cease using the American Indian mascot or obtain approval for the continued use of the American Indian mascot or another American Indian mascot from the Colorado commission of Indian affairs (commission) or before July 1, 2013. Each school district that includes a high school that uses an American Indian mascot, and the state charter school institute, are required to notify each such high school of the provisions of the act and notify the commission of each such high school's use of an American Indian mascot on or before January 1, 2011. The commission will evaluate the use of American Indian mascots by public high schools of school districts and institute charter high schools and either grant or deny approval of such use.

For each month in which a public high school of a school district uses an American Indian mascot after July 1, 2013, without obtaining approval from the commission, the school district shall pay a fine of $1000 to the state treasurer, who shall credit the same to the state education fund.

For each month in which an institute charter high school uses an American Indian mascot after July 1, 2013, without obtaining approval from the commission, the state charter school institute shall pay a fine of $1000 to the state treasurer, who shall credit the same to the state education fund.

Sections 1 and 3 of the bill authorize an institute charter school to participate as a member of a board of cooperative services (BOCES).

Sections 2 and 4 of the bill clarify that a BOCES may contract with an institute charter school to provide a building, building maintenance, or educational or other services and that an institute charter school may contract with the BOCES.

Section 5 of the bill directs the institute to study the feasibility and effect of identifying institute charter schools as local education agencies for purposes of federal law and to report its findings and recommendations to the education committees of the general assembly.

Under section 6 of the bill, the institute will create a separate account within the state charter school institute fund in which to hold any moneys received by the institute as a result of its operations as a school food authority. The moneys in the account are continuously appropriated to the institute.

Sections 7 to 10 of the bill change the name of the "institute charter school capital construction assistance fund" to the "institute charter school assistance fund" (fund). These sections further authorize the state charter school institute board to award from the moneys in the fund a grant or interest-free loan to an institute charter school for the purpose of addressing a facility or special education services funding emergency, as defined by rule of the board.

Section 11 of the bill extends from 60 to 75 days the length of time the board has to rule on an institute charter school application.

Section 12 of the bill repeals the requirement that the institute collect and provide to school districts upon request certain information concerning students enrolled in institute charter schools.

The bill extends the application of the "Colorado Open Records Act" (CORA) to all writings made, maintained, or kept by any entity that receives public moneys or performs a governmental or other public function and that relate to the receipt of the public moneys or the performance of that function.

Each contract for the performance of a governmental or other public function entered into on or after the effective date of the bill shall specify that the records and files relating to the costs or any performance measures under the contract that are made, maintained, or kept by any entity that is a party to the contract shall be open for public inspection in accordance with CORA. This does not require a private entity to make any materials available for inspection that do not relate to the contract for the performance of a governmental or other public function.

The bill encourages school districts to implement full-day kindergarten programs that meet specified quality criteria by providing additional per pupil funding for children enrolled in the program. The criteria include requiring the full-day kindergarten program to be available to every child of kindergarten-age who resides in the school district and whose parents choose to enroll him or her in full-day kindergarten, as well as other program-quality criteria. In each budget year in which a school district implements a full-day kindergarten program that meets the specified criteria, the school district will receive 1.3 of the district's per pupil revenue for each child enrolled in the full-day kindergarten program. The commissioner of education will verify each school district's certification of a full-day kindergarten program that qualifies for the increased funding.

The bill exempts a school district that receives 1.3 per pupil funding for full-day kindergarten students from the statutory provision that provides hold-harmless full-day kindergarten funding and from other statutory restrictions on the use of full-day kindergarten funding.

Two years after the bill is enacted, the legislative service agencies will conduct a post-enactment review to determine whether the bill, as implemented, is achieving the desired results and benefits specified in the legislative declaration in section 1 of the bill.

For the 2010-11 state fiscal year, the bill transfers to the state public school fund, instead of the permanent school fund, moneys not otherwise allocated from:

• Interest or income earned on the investment of the moneys in the permanent school fund;
• Proceeds received by the state for the sale of timber on public school lands, rental payments for the use and occupation of the surface of said lands, and rentals or lease payments for sand, gravel, clay, stone, coal, oil, gas, geothermal resources, gold, silver, or other minerals on said land; and
• Royalties and other payments for the depletion or extraction of a natural resource on said lands.

The bill authorizes a charter school to contract with a board of cooperative services or another charter school for buildings and services. The bill authorizes a board of cooperative services to contract with a district charter school or an institute charter school to provide services and buildings.

The bill authorizes charter schools to form charter school collaboratives to perform any function appropriately performed by a charter school, including applying for state or federal grants. If the charter school collaborative was formed with the consent of the authorizers of the member charter schools, the collaborative may serve as a local education agency or administrative unit.

The bill creates a strategy based on educator effectiveness to develop greater opportunities for educators and enhance education for students throughout Colorado.

Section 1 makes legislative findings.

Section 2 adds definitions.

Section 3 requires the state board of education (state board) to work with the governor's council for educator effectiveness (council), as created by executive order, to promulgate rules concerning a system to evaluate the effectiveness of educators (system).

Section 4 repeals the state licensed personnel performance evaluation council.

Section 5 references the council and lists additional duties for the council. Among those duties are developing recommendations for the state board regarding teacher evaluations and granting and revoking nonprobationary status. The council is also charged with developing a set of guidelines for establishing levels of effectiveness for different categories of educators, making recommendations regarding career ladders for teachers and principals, and making recommendations concerning a state plan for the equitable distribution of highly effective teachers and principals. If the council fails to make recommendations to the state board by December 31, 2010, the state board shall, on or before March 1, 2011, promulgate rules concerning any of the items concerning which the council was charged to make recommendations.

Section 6 requires a school district board of education or board of cooperative services to meet or exceed the guidelines established by the state board when creating its performance evaluation system. Standards are provided for a school district board of education to use when evaluating principals.

Sections 7 and 10 redefine a probationary teacher as a teacher who has not completed 3 consecutive years of demonstrated effectiveness or a nonprobationary teacher who has had 2 consecutive years of demonstrated ineffectiveness, as defined by rule of the state board.

Sections 8 and 11 require teacher placement by mutual consent of the teacher and the receiving school. Each teacher employment contract shall contain a provision stating that the teacher may be assigned to a particular school only upon the consent of the receiving school. If a teacher is unable to secure a position after 2 hiring cycles, he or she will be placed on unpaid leave without benefits until he or she earns a position, at which time his or her benefits and years of experience will be reinstated.

Section 9 allows demonstrated effectiveness to be a factor in cancelling employment contracts when there is a justifiable decrease in the number of teaching positions.

The bill creates the early childhood leadership commission (commission) to advance a comprehensive service delivery system for children from birth to 8 years of age using data to improve decision-making, alignment, and coordination among federally funded and state-funded services and programs targeted at young children and their families. The commission will consist of up to 31 members, including representatives from 8 governmental agencies that provide or are involved in providing services and supports to young children and their families and up to 23 persons appointed by the governor who represent community and local government agencies that provide services and support for young children, nonprofit organizations that are involved in children's issues, and representatives from the business community. The commission may appoint an executive director and the executive director may hire persons to assist the commission, which persons may be paid only from gifts, grants, or donations. The departments represented on the commission may also provide support services within existing appropriations, and the commission may accept in-kind contributions of services.

The commission's duties include creating a unified data system regarding services and supports for young children, generally coordinating and aligning the efforts of state agencies in providing these services and supports, reviewing and approving, if appropriate, requests made by the early childhood councils for waivers of rules, and making recommendations to the governor, the general assembly, and public and private agencies and policy boards concerning creating a state-level oversight and coordination structure for services and supports for children from birth to 8 years of age. The commission will collaborate with other executive-branch boards, commissions, and councils that address children's issues and with statewide organizations that address child protection and criminal justice issues. The commission will report its recommendations annually in a joint meeting with the governor and the education and health and human services committees of the general assembly.

The bill creates the early childhood leadership commission fund. Any gifts, grants, or donations that the commission receives will be credited to the fund, and the governor may allocate moneys to the fund, but the fund may not receive appropriations from the general fund.

The bill makes a conforming amendment concerning granting regulatory waiver requests by early childhood councils and directing the early childhood council advisory team to collaborate with the commission.

State law currently authorizes school districts to ask the eligible electors in their districts for approval to issue bonded indebtedness and specifies the purposes for which a district may issue such bonded indebtedness.

The bill creates a new purpose for which a district may issue bonded indebtedness. Specifically, it allows a district to ask its eligible electors for permission to issue bonded indebtedness to pay the costs that may be paid from the district's general fund, but only if Amendment 61, concerning state and local debt limitations, is adopted by the voters at the November 2010 general election and the eligible electors of the district approve a question to create debt for such purpose at the November 2010 general election or a subsequent election.