(1) The general assembly hereby finds that: (a) Creating pathways between high schools and institutions of higher education is essential to fulfilling the Colorado promise of doubling the number of postsecondary degrees earned by Coloradans and reducing by half the number of students who drop out of high schools in the state; (b) Concurrent enrollment programs have the potential to help advance the vision for an aligned system of high school and postsecondary standards and assessments, as described in the "Preschool to Postsecondary Education Alignment Act", part 10 of article 7 of this title; (c) Concurrent enrollment programs have existed for many years but with little state coordination, limited attention to quality and consistency, and no accountability. As a result, access has been necessarily limited. (d) Historically, the beneficiaries of concurrent enrollment programs have often been high-achieving students. The expanded mission of concurrent enrollment programs is to serve a wider range of students, particularly those who represent communities with historically low college participation rates. (e) The state should improve teachers', administrators', and parents' access to information concerning concurrent enrollment programs; (f) The emerging economic reality is that a postsecondary credential of some kind is the minimum educational requirement for a job that earns a living wage in Colorado. In spite of this, the number of students in Colorado who earn a postsecondary credential is disproportionately low when compared to other states. (g) All of the state's high schools should eventually develop equitable access to concurrent enrollment programs to provide the infrastructure necessary to improve high school retention, to motivate young people to take seriously the need to become postsecondary- and workforce-ready, and to accelerate students' progress toward a postsecondary credential. (2) The general assembly further finds and declares that, for purposes of section 17 of article IX of the state constitution, providing funding for concurrent enrollment programs is a permissible use of the moneys in the state education fund because the moneys are being used for accountable school reform, for accountable programs to meet state academic standards, and for class size reduction. (3) The general assembly further finds and declares its intention that the administrative costs incurred by the department of education in its implementation of the accelerating students through concurrent enrollment program created in section 22-35-108 shall be supported by federal funds available for government services pursuant to section 14002 of Title XIV of the federal "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009", Public Law 111-5 of the one hundred eleventh United States Congress. (4) Now, therefore, to broaden access to and improve the quality of concurrent enrollment programs, the general assembly concludes that it is appropriate and in the best interests of the state to support policies designed to improve coordination between institutions of secondary education and institutions of higher education and to ensure financial transparency and accountability.
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