(1) The short title of this section is the "Empowering Digital Learning for All Act". (2) (a) (I) The general assembly finds that: (A) The overwhelming influence of the rapidly evolving use of technology and the internet will render high-quality remote digital educational content almost cost-free after a period of declining costs. Access to digital content and educational courses is already an essential part of the higher education system but is not widely applied in elementary and secondary education. While some school districts have been able to keep pace with the changing context of public education, most have not. (B) The scope of the coming change in the delivery of public education services is massive and more far-reaching than the currently available constructs of online learning or blended learning. The scope of the change is such that the advances that the technology revolution brings must be equally available to students throughout Colorado who choose a blended learning environment. (C) The public education system must take advantage of this opportunity to significantly improve statewide educational equity by delivering educational services through the digital learning environment. It is likely that failure to embrace this change in the delivery of public education services will lead to a decline in the equity and quality of the system of public education in Colorado. (D) Colorado lacks a clearly articulated and accepted vision and plan to implement the shift in delivering educational services to a digital environment, which must occur to adequately prepare students for postsecondary success. It is crucial that the state identify a single public entity to provide leadership in designing and implementing a statewide plan for increasing the availability of supplemental online educational courses and blended learning for school districts, charter schools, and BOCES. (II) It is therefore in the best interests of the state to increase its investment in the expansion of affordable, high-quality supplemental online education courses and blended learning support for school districts, charter schools, and BOCES, especially those that lack the capacity to develop their own supplemental online education course offerings, by subsidizing the provision of supplemental online education courses, professional development, and technical assistance to implement supplemental online and blended learning statewide. (III) Due to its experience in assisting school districts with supplemental online education courses and blended learning in Colorado, it is further in the best interests of the state to designate a BOCES to articulate the statewide plan for supplemental online and blended learning and to lead, manage, and administer the statewide supplemental online and blended learning program in accordance with this section. (b) The general assembly declares that the amount necessary to implement the statewide supplemental online and blended learning program may be appropriated from federal mineral leasing revenues transferred to the state public school fund pursuant to section 34-63-102, C.R.S., and section 22-54-114 (1). (c) The general assembly further declares that, for purposes of section 17 of article IX of the state constitution, the statewide supplemental online and blended learning program is an important element in implementing accountable education reform and enabling school districts, charter schools, and BOCES to meet state academic standards and may therefore receive funding from the state education fund created in section 17 (4) of article IX of the state constitution. (3) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires: (a) "Administering BOCES" means the BOCES that the department designates as provided in subsection (4) of this section. (b) "Blended learning" means a formal education program through which a student learns at least in part through digital content with some element of student control and at least in part at a supervised physical location that is not the student's home. (c) "BOCES" means a board of cooperative services created pursuant to this article. (d) "Charter school" means a district charter school authorized pursuant to part 1 of article 30.5 of this title or an institute charter school authorized pursuant to part 5 of article 30.5 of this title. (e) "Department" means the department of education created and existing pursuant to section 24-1-115, C.R.S. (f) "Local public education agency" means a school district, BOCES, or charter school. (g) "Provider" means a nonprofit entity or a local public education agency that provides: (I) Supplemental online education courses that are taught by employees of the provider who are teachers licensed in Colorado pursuant to article 60.5 of this title; (II) Professional development resources for teachers; or (III) Consulting services for school districts, charter schools, and BOCES with regard to providing supplemental online education courses and blended learning. (h) "Small rural school district" means a school district in Colorado that the department determines is rural, based on the geographic size of the school district and the distance of the school district from the nearest large, urbanized area, and that enrolls fewer than one thousand students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. (i) "Statewide supplemental online and blended learning program" or "program" means the program described in subsection (4) of this section. (j) "Supplemental online education course" means an education course that is: (I) Taught by a teacher who is licensed pursuant to article 60.5 of this title; (II) Delivered via a technologically enhanced format to one or more students at a location that is remote from the delivery point; and (III) Developed by a school district, charter school, or BOCES or obtained from a provider to augment the education program provided by the school district, charter school, or BOCES. (4) (a) The department, in consultation with the statewide association of BOCES, shall designate a BOCES to lead, manage, and administer the statewide supplemental online and blended learning program as provided in this section. In administering the program, the BOCES, subject to available appropriations, shall select and contract with providers in accordance with subsection (6) of this section to provide the resources described in paragraph (b) of subsection (5) of this section. At least every five years, the department, in consultation with the statewide association of BOCES, shall review the designation of the administering BOCES and may continue the designation or select a different BOCES. (b) The administering BOCES shall manage and administer the program to achieve, at a minimum, the following goals: (I) Expanding the availability of supplemental online education courses and blended learning strategies; (II) Increasing significantly the number of students who enroll in high-quality, effective, and affordable supplemental online education courses; (III) Working with school districts, charter schools, and BOCES to create, offer, and sustain their own high-quality, effective, and affordable supplemental online education courses and blended learning, as well as targeted professional development and mentoring support; (IV) Assisting educators in local public education agencies to increase their competency specifically in using digital learning strategies to lead and instruct in, and otherwise implement, digital learning; and (V) Documenting and sharing best practices in providing supplemental online education courses and blended learning. (5) (a) In leading the statewide supplemental online and blended learning program, the administering BOCES, in partnership with the commissioner of education, the state board of education, and one or more private, nonprofit entities, shall prepare a plan for integrating supplemental online and blended learning into the educational programs provided by school districts, charter schools, and BOCES. Each school district, charter school, and BOCES may determine the extent to which it participates in the statewide plan. (b) The administering BOCES shall ensure that, through the program, all school districts, charter schools, and BOCES in the state have access to: (I) Supplemental online and blended learning resources, including, at a minimum, supplemental online education courses available from contract providers or from a school district, charter school, or BOCES and a library of digital course content; (II) Professional development resources for teachers, including resources for certifying teachers' ability to successfully integrate supplemental online and blended learning resources into school-building-based educational programs; and (III) Consulting assistance for school districts, charter schools, and BOCES that choose to use supplemental online and blended learning for students, including an inventory of successful models for integrating supplemental online education courses and blended learning into school-building-based educational programs. (c) The administering BOCES shall actively market to school districts, charter schools, and BOCES the availability of resources through the statewide supplemental online and blended learning program. (d) The administering BOCES may enter into an agreement with the statewide internet portal authority created in article 37.7 of title 24, C.R.S., to provide the platform for accessing services and programs available through the statewide supplemental online and blended learning program. (6) (a) The administering BOCES shall establish a fair and transparent request for proposal process to use when selecting providers to provide resources as described in paragraph (b) of subsection (5) of this section through the statewide supplemental online and blended learning program. The request for proposal process must include input from a review committee as described in paragraph (b) of this subsection (6) that the administering BOCES convenes as needed. (b) The review committee consists of: (I) A representative from the administering BOCES; (II) A representative from the office in the department responsible for online and blended learning; (III) The following members selected jointly by the administering BOCES and the department: (A) A national expert in online and blended learning; (B) An administrator from a school that is designated an alternative education campus as provided in section 22-7-604.5; and (C) An administrator from a school that obtains online or blended services through the program; and (IV) Two educators as follows: (A) One educator appointed by the governor, or his or her designee, who has experience with supplemental online education or blended learning; and (B) One educator selected by the department who is employed in a small rural school district. The department is encouraged to select an educator who has experience with supplemental online education or blended learning. (c) The review committee shall review all proposals using established rubrics and shall recommend one or more providers for approval to the administering BOCES. If the administering BOCES chooses not to follow the recommendations of the review committee concerning a provider, it shall provide the review committee with a written explanation of the rationale for the decision. (d) A provider that the administering BOCES contracts with pursuant to this subsection (6) may subcontract with one or more for-profit or nonprofit entities, local public education agencies, or private organizations in meeting the obligations of its contract with the administering BOCES. (7) Supplemental online education courses must be provided to a school district, charter school, or BOCES at an affordable total program cost for high-quality, accredited courses with local support. (8) Each high school student in Colorado may take at least one supplemental online course per year. Each supplemental online course contract provider shall report to the administering BOCES information concerning the students who participate in the supplemental online courses to enable the administering BOCES to track the students' academic performance in the supplemental online courses. The administering BOCES shall annually collect data related to completion and passage rates from the providers contracted to provide supplemental online and blended learning and report that data to the department. The department shall collect the data through existing student data collection systems and in compliance with all state and federal laws and regulations concerning the privacy of information, including but not limited to the federal "Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974", 20 U.S.C. sec. 1232g, as amended. (9) The general assembly shall annually appropriate to the department for allocation to the administering BOCES an amount sufficient to administer the statewide supplemental online and blended learning program and fund the contracts entered into with providers pursuant to this section. The administering BOCES may expend up to ten percent of the amount annually appropriated to offset its costs incurred in leading, managing, and administering the program. (10) (a) On or before March 15, 2017, and on or before March 15 each year thereafter, the administering BOCES shall submit to the education committees of the house of representatives and the senate, or any successor committees, the joint budget committee of the general assembly, the state board of education, and the department a report concerning implementation and use of the statewide supplemental online and blended learning program for the preceding school year. (b) This subsection (10) is exempt from the provisions of section 24-1-136 (11), C.R.S., and the annual reporting requirements of this subsection (10) are effective until changed by the general assembly acting by bill. (11) (a) Beginning in the summer of 2021 and continuing throughout the 2021-22 school year, in addition to administering the statewide supplemental online and blended learning program in accordance with subsection (5) of this section, the administering BOCES shall prioritize entering into partnerships with local public education agencies for delivery of supplemental online learning recovery courses for students enrolled in kindergarten through twelfth grade. The administering BOCES and local public education agencies shall, to the extent practicable, partner with nonprofit entities and community-based organizations to expand the availability of, and students' access to, supplemental online learning recovery courses. Local public education agencies are encouraged to identify the students who are most in need of learning recovery courses as a result of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and to prioritize these students to receive supplemental online programming to support learning recovery. (b) The administering BOCES shall communicate to all local public education agencies, and the local public education agencies shall communicate to the parents of students enrolled by the local public education agencies, the availability of supplemental online education courses through the administering BOCES, including the availability of learning recovery courses, the types of courses that are available for learning recovery and other purposes, the manner in which students may enroll in these courses through the local public education agency, and the benefits to students who successfully complete the courses. At a minimum, the local public education agency shall provide the information through the digital means normally used for communicating with parents and shall ensure, to the extent practicable, that the information is available in languages that students' parents understand.
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