HB 17-1375

HB 17-1375, a Colorado bill that has been signed into law, requires school districts that collect extra funding through mill levies and support charter or innovation schools to either create a distribution plan for this money or distribute 95% of it directly per student. This ensures that these funds benefit students in underserved populations as well. School districts must maintain their current distribution levels until the new rules take effect, after which they need to post detailed information about how the funds are used on their websites. The law also mandates transparency by requiring schools and school districts to list any state statute waivers they have received and why. This bill aims to improve funding for charter schools through a newly created fund called the mill levy equalization fund.

Official Summary

Beginning in the 2019-20 budget year, the bill requires school districts that collect revenue from mill levies in addition to the total program mill levy and that authorize an innovation school or a charter school to: adopt a plan for distributing the revenue to the schools of the school district for the benefit of the students enrolled in the school district; or distribute 95% of the per pupil amount of the revenue to the innovation schools and charter schools of the school district (per pupil distribution). The bill specifies the requirements for the plan and requirements that apply if the school district makes a per pupil distribution. In adopting a plan or making a per pupil distribution, the school district may distribute a portion of the revenue specifically for specified underserved populations. If a school district is distributing a portion of the mill levy revenue to the charter schools or innovation schools of the school district during the 2016-17 budget year, it must maintain the same distribution amount for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 budget years. By July 1, 2018, each school district that chooses to adopt a plan must post the plan on the school district's website. If the school district chooses to distribute 95% of the per pupil amount, the school district must post a notice of such intent by July 1, 2018, and, starting July 1, 2019, must post the amount received in revenue, the amount distributed for underserved populations, and the amount distributed to each charter school and each innovation school. Commencing July 1, 2018, the charter school institute and each school district, board of cooperative services, and charter school must post on its website a link to certain federal tax forms and schedules filed by the institute, school district, board of cooperative services, or charter school. Commencing July 1, 2017, each school district and each charter school must post a list of the waivers of state statute that it has received and, for each nonautomatic waiver, the plan for meeting the intent of the statute. The department of education, the state charter school institute, and a statewide association of charter schools must create a standardized description of each of the statutes for which the state board of education grants an automatic waiver and the rationale for granting the automatic waiver. Starting July 1, 2018, each charter school must post the description and rationale for each of the automatic waivers it is invoking. The bill creates the mill levy equalization fund, consisting of such money as the general assembly may appropriate to it, to provide additional funding for institute charter schools. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

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