(1) (a) There is established the accelerating students through concurrent enrollment program, which is available to qualified students who are designated by their enrolling local education providers pursuant to subsection (2)(a) of this section. The objectives of the ASCENT program are to: (I) Increase the percentage of students who participate in postsecondary education, especially among low-income and traditionally underserved populations; (II) Decrease the number of students who do not complete high school; (III) Decrease the amount of time that is required for a student to complete a postsecondary degree or certificate; (IV) Reduce state expenditures for public education; and (V) Increase the number of educational pathways available to students. (b) Notwithstanding any provision of this article 35 to the contrary, a qualified student who is designated by the student's local education provider to be an ASCENT program participant pursuant to subsection (2) of this section may concurrently enroll in postsecondary courses, including academic courses and career and technical education courses, in the year directly following the year in which the qualified student was enrolled in the twelfth grade of the local education provider. (2) (a) A local education provider may designate a qualified student as an ASCENT program participant if the qualified student: (I) Has completed or is on schedule to complete at least nine credit hours of postsecondary course work prior to the completion of the qualified student's twelfth-grade year; (II) Is not in need of a developmental education course; (III) Has been accepted into a postsecondary degree program at an institution of higher education; (IV) Has not been designated as an ASCENT program participant in a prior year. (V) Has completed and submitted a free application for federal student aid or a Colorado application for state financial aid; and (VI) Has satisfied any other selection criteria established by the board's guidelines, pursuant to subsection (4) of this section. (b) Each local education provider that designates qualified students to participate in the ASCENT program shall, as provided by state board rule, report to the department the estimated number of ASCENT program participants that the local education provider will enroll for the following school year. The department, as part of its annual budget request to the general assembly, shall report the estimated total number of ASCENT program participants for the following school year. (c) For the 2025-26 state fiscal year, and each state fiscal year thereafter, the local education provider shall not designate a total number of ASCENT program participants that is greater than the total number of ASCENT program participants that it designated in the 2024-25 state fiscal year. (3) The local education provider of a qualified student who is designated by the local education provider as an ASCENT program participant may include the student in the district's funded pupil count, or, in the case of a qualified student enrolled in an institute charter school, in the funded pupil count of the school's accounting district, as determined pursuant to article 54 of this title 22. (4) The board shall establish guidelines as necessary for the administration of the ASCENT program, including selection criteria that the local education provider may use to designate qualified students as ASCENT program participants. (5) For the purposes of part 5 of article 11 of this title 22 concerning school accountability reports, the department shall include ASCENT program participants in the reporting requirements, regardless of whether an ASCENT program participant has completed the participant's graduation requirements. (6) For purposes of applying the provisions of article 11 of this title 22 concerning school accountability and reporting graduation rates, a qualified student who is an ASCENT program participant must be counted in the enrolling school district's or institute charter school's graduation rate in the school year in which the student completes the school district's or institute charter school's minimum high school graduation requirements. The state board shall promulgate rules for schools and school districts to follow in satisfying state and federal reporting requirements concerning the enrollment status of ASCENT program participants. To the extent practicable, the rules must ensure that schools and school districts are not adversely affected in calculating and reporting the completion of high school graduation requirements by qualified students who have been designated by local education providers as ASCENT program participants. The rules must include, at a minimum, reporting requirements relating to: (a) The provisions of article 7 of this title 22 concerning educational accountability; and (b) The provisions of article 11 of this title 22 concerning educational accreditation. (7) On or before December 1, 2024, the department shall submit a report to the education committees of the house of representatives and the senate, or their successor committees, and the joint budget committee, concerning recommendations to improve the ASCENT program. At a minimum, the report must include: (a) A sample-based analysis of the expenditures required of local education providers to offer the ASCENT program, including information regarding the amount paid for student tuition; fees; textbooks; transportation; student support services, including counseling; and any other expenditures required of local education providers for general overhead. The report must include information from a sample of schools that designated ASCENT program participants during the 2023-24 budget year and recommendations for future data collections regarding ASCENT program expenditures. (b) Information provided by districts to the department regarding ASCENT program services and expenditures that have the greatest effect; and (c) Recommended changes to improve the ASCENT program, including an estimate of how the recommendations would improve outcomes based on the objectives stated pursuant to subsection (1)(a) of this section.
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